Deep distress or sadness, especially over loss, or a sense of guilt and regret..
Deep distress or sadness, especially over loss, or a sense of guilt and regret.
Deeper and more inward than sadness, and more apt to imply a specific cause — a sense of loss or of guilt and remorse. Quieter, longer-lasting, and more reflective than grief, which is the sharper, more immediate form (often bereavement). Far short of the torturing agony of anguish. More literary and emotionally weighty than plain sadness; centered on regret/loss rather than the let-down of disappointment.
Middle English sorwe, from Old English sorg “grief, regret, care, anxiety,” from Proto-Germanic *sorg-, perhaps from PIE *swergh- “to worry, be sick.” NOT related to sore or sorry, despite the resemblance.
Stable: the Old English cluster (“grief, regret, care, pain, anxiety”) already centered on emotional distress, continuous with the modern sense. No reliable recent-generation shift.