'Torment' was first a Roman catapult, then a torture rack, then suffering itself — from 'torquere' (to twist).
Severe physical or mental suffering; extreme anguish or pain.
From Old French 'torment,' from Latin 'tormentum' (an instrument for twisting, a rack, an engine of war, torture, anguish), from 'torquēre' (to twist, to wrench), from PIE *terkʷ- (to twist). A 'tormentum' in Roman usage had three distinct senses: a device for twisting ropes (used in siege warfare to power catapults and ballistae), an instrument of torture (the rack), and the suffering caused by such instruments. The word's journey
In Roman military engineering, a 'tormentum' was a catapult or ballista — a siege engine that worked by twisting ropes to store energy. The same word that named the machine that hurled boulders at city walls came to name the anguish of the human soul. One twists cords; the other twists the spirit