[mirimir]

Thanks. I'm struck by the Wikipedia entry on the song "La solitudine" by Laura Pausini: "The lyrics to the Italian version of the song where are about a boy named Marco, who is separated from his girlfriend at the urging of his family and sent to live far away from her. The now former girlfriend makes an emotional and heartfelt plea, singing to him about the loneliness and pain they would feel without each other."[0] So that's clearly about feeling lonely, aka loneliness.

But the article goes on to say: "The English-language version of the song, adapted by Tim Rice, has a completely different meaning, and it doesn't contain any reference to Marco. Its lyrics are focused on the feelings of those who want to be alone in order to better understand themselves."

But what I get is that the Italian word "solitudine" is ambiguous, meaning both, in tension, with awareness at multiple levels. In English, one is forced to choose: solitude (chosen, positive) vs loneliness (imposed, negative). English probably takes after German in that, I'm guessing.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_solitudine