Nostalgic

Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word nostalgia is learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of νόστος (nóstos), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning "pain" or "ache", and was coined by a 17th-century medical student to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home. Described as a medical condition—a form of melancholy—in the Early Modern period, it became an important trope in Romanticism.

Etymology

"Nostalgia" is a compound of two Greek words, νόστος, nóstos, "returning home", and ἄλγος, álgos, "pain, ache". It was described as a medical condition, a form of melancholy, in the Early Modern period, and came to be an important trope in Romanticism.

History

The term was coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer (1669–1752) in his Basel dissertation. Hofer introduced nostalgia or mal du pays "homesickness" for the condition also known as mal du Suisse "Swiss illness" or Schweizerheimweh "Swiss homesickness," because of its frequent occurrence in Swiss mercenaries who in the plains of lowlands of France or Italy were pining for their native mountain landscapes. Symptoms were also thought to include fainting, high fever, indigestion, stomach pain, and death.

Modern approaches

In modern times, nostalgia is generally associated with a yearning for the past, its personalities, and events, especially the "good old days" or a "warm childhood."

See also

• Homesickness
• Saudade
• Sehnsucht
• Wabi-sabi
• Mono no aware
• Yūgen
• Aware (feeling)

References

Nostalgic Resources
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