sorrow

From Middle English sorwe, sorow, from Old English sorg, sorh ("care, anxiety, sorrow, grief"), from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surgō. Further back lies Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ- ("watch over, worry; be ill, suffer").

The Old English form already carried the full range of care, anxiety, and grief, so the word's meaning has stayed remarkably close to its ancient root's sense of anxious watching and suffering.

It shares its Germanic root with German Sorge, Dutch zorg, and Swedish sorg, all still meaning "care" or "worry." Despite looking alike, it is not historically related to sorry or sore.