ABSTRACT
Angest is a loan word from the Middle Low German angest. The Old High German angust is closely related to the Latin angustiae (narrowness, tightness, difficulty). The Danish word may refer to a dangerous or difficult situation, as it frequently does in biblical usage. More generally, though, it describes a feeling of unease brought on by the thought of a real or imagined danger. The Ordbog over det danske Sprog adds that the term denotes a feeling of oppression of spirit distinct from, and stronger than, fear, citing the following passage from Kierkegaard’s authorship: “The concept of anxiety…is altogether different from fear and similar concepts that refer to something definite….”1 Angest, in Kierkegaard’s work, is also sometimes translated as anguish or dread.
