agita

I recently encountered the word "agida," though I'm no longer sure where. Turns out MW11 spells it "agita," and defines it as a feeling of anxiety. One might assume that it derives from "agitation," but MW11 says it's a "South Italian dialect pronunciation of Italian 'acido,'" meaning "acid" or "heartburn."

Word Detective noted, back in 2000, that "agita" is "more or less the Italian-American equivalent of the Yiddish 'tsuris,'" and that nobody's sure of its origin; he mentioned "acido" as a possible source, but also Italian "agitare."

(Later in that same column, btw, he discusses cock a snook, which we also discussed a few months back.)

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