Word of the week: 'Tribulation'
The word "tribulation" stems from the root to turn, to rub, twist, drill or pierce. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots tells us that this root can also "refer to the rubbing of cereal grain to remove the husks and thence to the process of threshing either by the trampling of oxen or by flailing with flails."
The Oxford English Dictionary defines tribulation as coming from the idea of a threshing sledge. Tribulation is a condition of great affliction, oppression, misery, persecution, distress, vexation or a disturbance of one's life.
In the 16th century, Thomas More defined tribulation as "every such thing as troubleth and grieveth a man either in body or mind" (OED).
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