# loneliness



## majlo

Polish: samotność

Others, I think, I know. Please, native speakers, correct me if I'm wrong.

Italian: solitudine
Spanish: soledad
German: die Einsamkeit

Please, speakers of other languages (but not only), have your say here.


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## carolteacher

Hi,
The Spanish tranlation is ok. Do you want the word in other languages? In Catalan, it is called "solitud". Bye


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## majlo

As many languages as you can, please.


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## Etcetera

In Russian: один*о*чество / odin*o*chestvo.


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: solidão, or more poetically: soledade.

Jazyk


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish: *yalnızlık


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## jonquiliser

Swedish: ensamhet (there's also avskildhet, that can be used not only negatively, but also as something somehow desired, and thus positive.)


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## Mutichou

In *French*: solitude


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## Hakro

*Finnish:* yksinäisyys


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## Lemminkäinen

Norwegian (bokmål): *ensomhet*
Norwegian (nynorsk): *einsemd*


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## deine

Lithuanian: vienatvė or vienišumas


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## panjabigator

Panjabi: ਅਕੇਲਾਪਨ


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog:  Kalungkutan from the root word lungkot - melancholy


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## Whodunit

Your German translation is correct, but you wrote the definite article, which you didn't for the other languages.


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## Outsider

In English, there is also the word "solitude".


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## panjabigator

Can "saudade" also work in Portuguese?


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## Outsider

I can't think of any instance where it honestly might. It's a false friend of Spanish _soledad_.


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## Whodunit

panjabigator said:


> Can "saudade" also work in Portuguese?


 
It means "yearning," doesn't it?



Outsider said:


> I can't think of any instance where it honestly might. It's a false friend of Spanish _soledad_.


 
Why should it? You have the words _solidão_ and _soledade_ to express it. I wouldn't see a connection between _saudade_ and _soledad_.


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## parakseno

The Romanian word for loneliness would be "singurătate" (feminine noun).


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## elroy

Arabic: الوحدة


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:


> Panjabi: ਅਕੇਲਾਪਨ


Same in Hindi (if I read the Gurmukhi right, it says: akelaapan)

*Hindi*: अकेलापन (akélaapan)
*Urdu:* اكيلاپن (akélaapan)
*Gujarati*: વિજનતા (vijantaa)


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## karuna

In Latvian: vientulība


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## robbie_SWE

parakseno said:


> The Romanian word for loneliness would be "singurătate" (feminine noun).


 
Correct Parakseno, but you can also say "*solitudine*" (nice word don't you think?  ). 

 robbie


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch: 
Eenzaamheid

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Outsider

Whodunit said:


> Why should it? You have the words _solidão_ and _soledade_ to express it. I wouldn't see a connection between _saudade_ and _soledad_.


They are cognates:

soledad <--> saudade

"Soledade" looks like a learned borrowing, either from Spanish or from Latin.


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## ulcer

in Chinese, it's 孤独or 孤寂...is it cool

but not sure if it can be shown here


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## Outsider

I can see it.


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## ulcer

Outsider said:


> I can see it.


 
Cool


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## colorado grandma

There is a subtle difference between loneliness and solitude in English.

Loneliness is feeling the absence of something or someone or people in general.

Solitude is being alone, which can be quite different, especially if a person chooses to be alone. 

Sometimes I am lonely thanking about friends who have died, but I am often very content in my solitude, listening to music, doing needlework, or reflecting on the past.


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## .Lola.

Czech: osamělost
Slovak: osamelosť
Hebrew: בדידות (bdidut)


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## ronanpoirier

Hungarian:

-Magányosság
-Egyedüllét

Both can be used, but "magányosság" is related to feel alone while "egyedüllét" is related to be alone (in a room, for example).


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## TraductoraPobleSec

Hi everyone! In Catalan, as someone pointed out, there is the word *solitud*, but then there is also *soledat*. As Colorado Grandma said, there is a difference between these words: one sometimes searches for *solitud* and is very happy about it (_solitude_), whilst *soledat* is the unwanted *solitud* (_loneliness_). Then a songwriter from Majorca that I adore (Joan Miquel Oliver from the band "Antònia Font") made up a great word to express solitude, which is *TOTSOLESA*. 

In English there is "*aloneness*" as well.

Have a good day all wherever you are, the *lonely* ones, the *solitary* ones and those in company!


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## Maja

In Serbian:

оsamljenost (осамљеност) / usamljenost (усамљеност).


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## Abbassupreme

Tanhaayi/Tanhaa'i (the second one is technically incorrect, now, though)= "Loneliness" in Persian.

Tak= Single, to the best of my knowledge, though, so maybe it's used as a root word for another way of saying "loneliness" or even "solitude".


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## doman

Vietnamese:

*Cô đơn* (feeling)
*Cô độc* (situation)


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## siziez

In Thai for this word is "โดดเดี่ยว" or this word is better to explain a feeling of lonely person "ตัวคนเดียว".


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## god of war

in CHINESE 孤独


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## dodie

in Bahasa Indonesia:

loneliness = kesendirian


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## halfminded

In estonian:

*loneliness= üksildus
*


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## AkErBeLtZ

In Basque:
*Bakardadea*


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## elpoderoso

Swedish: ensamhet 
Norwegian (bokmål): ensomhet
Norwegian (nynorsk): einsemd
Lithuanian: vienišumas
Polish: samotność
German: die Einsamkeit
Dutch: Eenzaamheid
Serbian:оsamljenost (осамљеност) / usamljenost (усамљеност).
Czech: osamělost
Slovak: osamelosť

Hi all, I wonder if anyone could tell me if the sam/som/sum features of the above words have any relation to each other?


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## cajzl

Surely. They are from the same IE root **sem-* (one) like English some, same, Latin semel, semper, simul, singulus, simplex, similis, Greek homos, haploos, Slavic sam, ...

See: http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/roots/zzs01400.html


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## elpoderoso

Dekuji mockrát (sorry couldnt get the other accent)


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## redwine

tanzhang said:


> In Tagalog: Kalungkutan from the root word lungkot - melancholy


i believe it is 'pag-iisa' in Filipino (Tagalog) and i think sadness is 'kalungkutan' in Filipino.  there's a saying that you can be alone but not lonely....


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## Athaulf

cajzl said:


> Surely. They are from the same IE root **sem-* (one) like English some, same, Latin semel, semper, simul, singulus, simplex, similis, Greek homos, haploos, Slavic sam, ...
> 
> See: http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/roots/zzs01400.html



Are you sure about German, though? I'm pretty sure that the morpheme _sam_ in _einsam_ is the same suffix used to create adjectives out of nouns and verbs as in, say, _gewaltsam_ or _schweigsam_, which doesn't seem to have any connection with this IE root. (Or does it?)

I also strongly suspect that this might be the case with the above mentioned similar words from Dutch and the Scandinavian languages.


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## cajzl

You are absolutely right that the suffix *-sam* in _ein*sam*_ has a different function than the *"sam*" in the Slavic equivalents (o_*sam*_ělost, etc.).

But it does not necessarily mean that there is no connection with the IE root **sem *(= one). 

In English *some *basically means _one_ (_a certain one_). The adjective *bothersome *can be interpreted: _that one who bothers_. Similarly we can interpret *ein-sam* like _one-one =_ _that one who is one/alone_.

But as per usual - Who knows?


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## Frank06

Hi,


cajzl said:


> You are absolutely right that the suffix -sam in einsam has a different function than the "-sam-" in the Slavic equivalents (o_sam_ělost, etc.).
> But it does not necessarily mean that there is no connection with the IE root **sem *(= one).


There is indeed a connection, but we have to look at the PIE root *sem _and_ the variations (or *grades*, if you want: *sem, *som, *s&m (&=shwa)). The link you gave in a previous post was quite clear about it, and it is confirmed by other etymological dictionaries as the ODEE, Kluge, ... I don't see any reason to doubt it.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Geniuswolf

also in Thai : เหงา


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## ramen

In Korean, the noun 외로음 (we-ro-ŭm), 'loneliness' comes from the verb 외롭다 (we-rop-da) 'to be lonely'.


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## Nizo

In the international language *Esperanto*:  _soleco_.


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## jester.

TraductoraPobleSec said:


> Hi everyone! In Catalan, as someone pointed out, there is the word *solitud*, but then there is also *soledat*. As Colorado Grandma said, there is a difference between these words: one sometimes searches for *solitud* and is very happy about it (_solitude_), whilst *soledat* is the unwanted *solitud* (_loneliness_).



How can I differentiate between these two verbs in Castilian?
¿Cómo puedo diferenciar entre estos dos verbos en castellano?


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## muguete

ronanpoirier said:


> Hungarian:
> 
> -Magányosság
> -Egyedüllét
> 
> Both can be used, but "magányosság" is related to feel alone while "egyedüllét" is related to be alone (in a room, for example).


True, but it actually depends on the context, 'cause when someone says: "Olyan egyedül vagyok!" then it means the loneliness. If someone only says: "Egyedül vagyok!" then it can mean both.

In our beautiful Hungarian language you never know.. 

Ps. But the "magány" or "magányosság" is definitely only about feeling lonely...


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## novenarik

In Marshallese its jañnuwaad.

It'd almost be interesting if we could get into how _lone_ plus _ly_, became lonely. If the suffix -ly generally modifies the word to mean "having the qualities of" in the adjectival  sense, how did lonely come to include not just being alone, but also that sense of longing/yearning?

It's interesting (etymologically, at least) that perhaps counter-intuitive to its construction, that one could be lonely, without having the qualities of being _a lone_ in a physical sense.

But maybe that's a topic for another thread.


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## ~ceLine~

*Greek* -> μοναξιά (_monaksia_)


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## Not being

doman said:


> Vietnamese:
> 
> *Cô đơn* (feeling)
> *Cô độc* (situation)



I'm not sure whether anyone's still interested in this, but i'd love to correct this mistake, well, rather a grave one.

Cô đơn or cô độc: state or feeling of loneliness, as đơn literally would mean _solo_, _mono_ and độc would mean _unique_

However, these two have somehow their origin in Chinese. More likely and "vietnamese-origin-ally" the word "một mình" would do, meaning "alone" or "da solo" in Italian o "einsam(keit)" in German.


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## yelena234

Hello,

Slovenian: samota

Croatian: osamljenost


Sam (in Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian) means: alone, solo.

Sam means, that you are just one person, there is nobody around you and has nothing to do with: loneliness. 
You can be SAM, but not lonely.


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## MarX

*Indonesian: *kesepian


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## catinhat

Afrikaans: Eensaamheid


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## apmoy70

~ceLine~ said:


> *Greek* -> μοναξιά (_monaksia_)..


...which is a Koine noun *«μοναξίᾱ» mŏnăk͡síā*, and after synizesis *«μοναξιά»* [monak͡sˈça] (fem.) in MoGr < Classical adv. *«μονάξ» mŏnắk͡s* & *«μουνάξ» mounắk͡s* --> _simply_ < Classical Greek adj. *«μόνος/μοῦνος, -ίᾱ, -ον mónŏs* or *moûnŏs* (masc.), *mŏníā* (fem.), *mónŏn* (neut.) --> _alone_ < *μόνϝος *mónwŏs (PIE *mon-uo̯- _alone_ cf Arm. մանր (manr), _small, thin_).


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## Rallino

Kazakh: *жалғыздық / jalğyzdyq*


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## eno2

jonquiliser said:


> Swedish: ensamhet



Dutch 'Eenzaamheid' Cognate.

Loan from German _einsam_ ‘id.’ [15e eeuw; Pfeifer]?



> Classical adv. *«μονάξ» mŏnắk͡s* & *«μουνάξ»*


Dutch monnik=  monk=   
μοναχός 

All linked to μοναξίᾱ


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## ilocas2

yelena234 said:


> Slovenian: samota



In Czech there is also the word *samota* with the same meaning as in Slovenian.


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## eno2

Samota must be Czechoslovenian then.


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## bibax

Something like "Czechoslovenia" or "Czechoslavia" was indeed a suggestion after the break-up of Austria-Hungary. Bohemia/Moravia would be connected with the Adriatic by means of a tunnel under Austria. The mined material would be used to create an artificial island with a port (a possible competitor to Terst/Trieste) that would be the Czech territory.  At last we ended in Czechoslovakia and the Slovenians in Yugoslavia.

To the languguages, Czech and Slovenian are partly strikingly similar, partly considerably different, esp. in the case of vocabulary.


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## ThomasK

TraductoraPobleSec said:


> Hi everyone! In Catalan, as someone pointed out, there is the word *solitud*, but then there is also *soledat*. As Colorado Grandma said, there is a difference between these words: one sometimes searches for *solitud* and is very happy about it (_solitude_), whilst *soledat* is the unwanted *solitud* (_loneliness_). Then a songwriter from Majorca that I adore (Joan Miquel Oliver from the band "Antònia Font") made up a great word to express solitude, which is *TOTSOLESA*.
> 
> In English there is "*aloneness*" as well.
> 
> Have a good day all wherever you are, the *lonely* ones, the *solitary* ones and those in company!


I think I will start a new thread and focus on the distinction between solitude and loneliness, as pointed out by T in #22... It is essential, I think.


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