How people named longing, sadness, fear and wanting.
thrill (n.)
Collection
The Inner Life
A thrill is a sudden rush of excitement or fear that seems to go right through you. The word began with exactly that. The Old English verb þyrlian meant to pierce, and it came from þyrel, a hole. In Middle English thirlen became thrillen, as two of its sounds changed places.1
By the late fourteenth century the verb could be used of a feeling that pierces someone. The shivering, exciting feeling is recorded from the 1590s, and the noun from the 1670s.1
The same hole is still in nostril. Old English nosþyrl was the hole of the nose, from nosu, nose, and þyrel.2
A thrill went through the crowd when the doors opened.