Where does “loneliness” come from?
Loneliness derives from English lonely, which combines English lone from Old English ān meaning "one" with English -ness, tracing back through Proto-Indo-European ḱóm and līg-.
loneliness (English): A feeling of depression resulting from being...
Definitions
- A feeling of depression resulting from being...
Ancestry of “loneliness”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | lonely | Unhappy because of feeling isolated from contact... |
| 2 | English | Lone | — |
| 3 | English | alone | By oneself, solitary; Apart from, or exclusive... |
| 4 | Middle English | allone | alone |
| 5 | Middle English | on | on, in; on; Alternative form of oon |
| 6 | Old English | on | on, in, at, among; from |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | ana | on |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | *an | — |
| 9 | Proto-Germanic | ana | on, at; on, onto; ana |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂en- | on, onto |