Where does “lonely-hearted” come from?

lonely-hearted (English) comes from English lonely, from English Lone, from English alone, from Middle English allone, from Middle English on, from Old English on, from Proto-West Germanic ana, from Proto-Germanic *an — on, onto.

lonely-hearted (English): Yearning for affection and companionship

Definitions

  1. Yearning for affection and companionship

Ancestry of “lonely-hearted”, step by step

lonely-hearted traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English lonely

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishlonelyUnhappy because of feeling isolated from contact...
2EnglishLoneSolitary; having no companion
3EnglishaloneBy oneself, solitary; Apart from, or exclusive...
4Middle Englishallonealone
5Middle Englishonon, in; on; Alternative form of oon
6Old Englishonon, in, at, among; from
7Proto-West Germanicanaon
8Proto-Germanic*an
9Proto-Germanicanaon, at; on, onto; ana
10Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂en-on, onto

via English hearted

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishheartedsimple past tense and past participle of heart;...
2Middle EnglishhertedHaving a specified disposition, emotion, or...
3Middle EnglishherteThe heart; One's inner self; the mind or...
4Old Englishheorteheart
5Proto-West Germanichertāheart
6Proto-Germanichertôheart
7Proto-Indo-Europeanḱḗrheart

Words derived from “lonely-hearted

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂en-Every word from Proto-Germanic anaEvery word from Proto-Germanic *an