Origin Story
In Greek mythology, Pan was a half-man, half-goat god of the wild who presided over the forests and fields of Arcadia. When his afternoon naps were disturbed, he would let out a terrifying shout that sent travelers scattering in fright. Whenever an unexplained noise echoed through the woods, the Greeks blamed it on Pan and called the feeling panikon deima — "the fear of Pan." At the Battle of Marathon (490 BCE), even the sudden, irrational terror that seized the Persian army was said to be Pan's doing. This word panikon traveled through French panique before settling into English as panic.
Pan is sometimes linked to the Greek pan meaning "all" — the same prefix found in pandemic. The likelier theory, however, traces the god's name to paein, "to pasture," fitting his role as a herdsman's god.
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Oxford English Dictionarypanic: from French panique, from Greek panikon, neuter of panikos "of Pan," the god who was thought to cause sudden, groundless fear
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Online Etymology Dictionarypanic (n.): 1603, from French panique, from Greek panikon deima "panic fright," from Panikos "of Pan," who was believed to cause contagious, groundless fear
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Encyclopaedia BritannicaPan: in Greek mythology, a fertility deity associated with shepherds, whose sudden appearances inspired unreasoning terror in herds and humans
Word Evolution
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Words from the Same Root
Memory Hook
panic = Pan + ic. Picture the god Pan shrieking in the woods — and suddenly everyone falls into a panic.
""Fear spreads faster than reason — which is how Pan won a battle with nothing but a shout.""
