ail: [OE] Now virtually obsolete except in the metaphorical use of its present participial adjective ailing, ail is of long but uncertain history. The Old English verb egl(i)an came from the adjective egle ‘troublesome’, which had related forms in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German egelen ‘annoy’ and Gothic agls ‘disgraceful’, aglo ‘oppression’. The derivative ailment did not appear until as late as the 18th century.
ail (v.)
c. 1300, from Old English eglan "to trouble, plague, afflict," from Proto-Germanic *azljaz (cognates: Old English egle "hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;" Gothic agls "shameful, disgraceful," aglita "distress, affliction, hardship," us-agljan "to oppress, afflict"), from PIE *agh-lo-, suffixed form of root *agh- (1) "to be depressed, be afraid." Related: Ailed; ailing; ails.
It is remarkable, that this word is never used but with some indefinite term, or the word no thing; as What ails him? ... Thus we never say, a fever ails him. [Johnson]
例文
1. 「What should ail me to harm this misbegotten and miserable babe？
「このような不幸な私生児に危害を加えて、まさか私は気が狂ったのか？
2.It may provide answers to some of the problems that ail America.
この点は、米国を悩ますいくつかの問題に答える可能性があります。
3.What should ail me to harm this and miserable babe？
このような不幸な私生児に危害を加えるなんて、私は気が狂っているのだろうか。
4.Oh，what could ail thee，knight at arms，alone and palely loitering？
あなたを苦しめて戦う甲を身につけて孤独にさまよう騎士とは何ですか？
5.My boss has been aIl Smiles lately but I keep wondering why！