Expert: Maria - 9/17/2008

Question
Hello.  Can you please tell me what the latin equivalent phrase would be?  Broken hearted.  As in of low spirits, down in the dumps, feeling blue kind of broken hearted.  Not a literal broken heart, infractus pectoris.  Thank you.

Answer
Hello,

A Latin equivalent of the English adjective “broken hearted”  as “down in the dumps”/” in low spirits”/ etc. can be the following:

-maestus
-melancholicus
-demissus
-tristis


All the above Latin adjectives are in the nominative masculine singular, while the nominative feminine singular  is as follows:

-maesta
-melancholica
-demissa
-tristis  (like the masculine, in this adjective)

For example the phrase “I'm broken hearted” related to a subject masculine singular  translates as :

-maestus sum (where SUM corresponds to 'I am')
-melancholicus sum
-demissus sum
-tristis sum

But “I'm broken hearted” related to a subject  feminine singular  translates as:

-maesta sum
-melancholica sum
-demissa sum
-tristis  sum


Obviously the endings change if the nominative is in the plural, just because Latin is an inflected language with five declensions, six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, ablative), whose endings change, according to the role of each word in a sentence.

Finally I have to tell you that “Infractus pectoris” is absolutely wrong in Latin and thus makes no sense at all.

Hope all is clear enough.

Anyway it would need to know the context where “broken hearted”  (as “down in the dumps”/” in low spirits”/ etc.) is placed.

Best regards,
Maria