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Melancholie

melancholy

noun mel-an-ko-LEE Rare
Mind & Emotions Emotions

Origin: from Greek via Latin: melas (black) + chole (bile)

Usage Note

Melancholie is a pensive, poetic sadness rather than acute grief; it often carries a wistful or even pleasurable quality. Romantics prized it; today it appears in literary, musical, and introspective contexts.

Examples

"Im Herbst befiel ihn stets eine angenehme Melancholie, die ihn zum Schreiben trieb."

Natural Translation

In autumn a pleasant melancholy always came over him, driving him to write.

Literal Translation

In-the autumn seized him always a pleasant melancholy, that him to-the writing drove.

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