Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Nostalgia
A wistful longing for the past.
The Greek roots
νόστος
nóstos
homecoming
ἄλγος
álgos
pain
Literally: “the ache of homecoming”
The story of the word
Coined in the 1600s as a medical term for painful homesickness — the 'ache to return home'.
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
Old songs filled her with sudden nostalgia.