From Proto Indo European twork or twerk, “to twist”, also the ancestor of thwart, queer, torque, distort, and torch. Twork became Latin torquere, “to twist or distort”, and from that came the Latin noun torture (”twisting, torment”; pronounced tor-TOOR-eh), which came through Middle French into English at the end of the 1400’s.

In Roman times, torture was used extensively. A slave’s testimony was only considered valid if it had been extracted by torture, since it was assumed that a slave would never be truthful unless compelled to do so. Crucifixion was not considered torture, since it was only performed as part of a death sentence, not interrogation. Throughout the medieval period and into modern times, torture has been seen as an expedient and accurate way to facilitate interrogation. Opinion on this matter only began to shift in the 19th century.

The United Nations declared torture immoral in 1948 as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In modern English, torture is pronounced as TORCH-ur, with the primary stressed syllable identical to the word torch. The phonosemantics indicate a whole, earthy energy carried along a path to an extremely difficult resolution.

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