One teardown and rebuild of the words that make up the roots of "commiseration" might be "to share in wretchedness" or in another way "to be co-miserable". it

One teardown and rebuild of the words that make up the roots of "commiseration" might be "to share in wretchedness" or in another way "to be co-miserable". it always used to mean some kind of shared negativity though like many words the nuance and original meaning has somewhat drifted.