Dread. I like it better than the word fear because fear, like the unconscious emotion which is one of its forms, has only the word ear inside of it, telling an animal to listen, while dread has the word read inside of it, telling us to read carefully and find the dead, who are also there. But I have not used the word dread in what follows. I have used the word fear. And fear is an older word—it can be found in Old English, while dread enters the language in Middle English.

The poet sees and hears more than the etymologist.

The Old German faera and fer are not related to ear or read.

There is a shared origin with per and peri as in peril and perchance and perceive, suggesting a round-about, vague, ambiguous relationship. There is also a direct connection with a whole host of ancient Greek terms beginning with pero- meaning maimed.

My fears tend toward the amorphous.

My fears curtail my capabilities.