on tenterhooks

[Welsh_Sion]

It was only last night that I learnt the origin of this expression in English comes from the smoking of herring and making kippers. The figurative meaning of, 'in a state of suspense or agitation because of uncertainty about a future event' comes later.

In Cymraeg/Welsh, our equivalent is 'ar bigau'r drain' that is 'on the prickles of the thorns'.

How about the rest of the world?

 

[apmoy70]

In Greek:

«Σε αναμμένα κάρβουνα» [se a.naˈme.na ˈkar.vu.na] --> on burninɡ charcoal (so, more painful)

 

[bearded]

In Italian:
Sui carboni ardenti (on burning coals), just like in Greek.

 

[jazyk]

In Portuguese:
estar com os nervos à flor da pele, "to have one's nerves on the surface of the skin".

 

[Olaszinhok]

In Italian:
also essere/stare sulle spine, literally (to be on thorns).
I've just seen the Portuguese saying and we also have: avere i nervi a fior di pelle. Anyway, the latter is used when a person is particularly anxious, irritable and aggressive.

 

[Penyafort]

In Catalan:

No idiom comes to my mind, probably because we already have a verb, frisar, which already means to be inthat state, and also the noun neguit, so that estar neguitós (female neguitosa) or tenir/passar neguit would mean to be in that state.

Frisar (also frissar in the past or in dialects) comes from Latin frictiare 'to scratch'.​

Neguit might be a back formation from the old word neguitat 'uneasiness', from Latin iniquitate 'instability'.​

There is also a nice but rather unknown form, the adverb enjòlit, an old word (maybe from Provençal or Corsican) meaning 'adrift', which may refer to that state when talking about one's mood. Today that'd mostly be replaced by en suspens.

 

[Encolpius]

Hungarian: tűkön ül (lit.: be sitting on needles)

 

[ThomasK]

It was only last night that I learnt the origin of this expression in English comes from the smoking of herring and making kippers. The figurative meaning of, 'in a state of suspense or agitation because of uncertainty about a future event' comes later.

In Cymraeg/Welsh, our equivalent is 'ar bigau'r drain' that is 'on the prickles of the thorns'.

How about the rest of the world?

You'll love it, but in our dialect we say that we sit "op dessels", or "op distels" in Standard Dutch (but the expression is not standard): I sit on thistles! Don't know whether they were/ are Welsh, but...

 

[DearPrudence]

As in Italian and Greek, we have "être sur des charbons ardents" (to be on burning coals) in French.

 

[Demiurg]

In German: auf glühenden Kohlen sitzen (to sit on glowing coals).