/nos.ˈtal.xja/·noun·c. mid-18th century (in Spanish medical and literary texts)·Established
Origin
A word engineered from ancient Greek by a Swiss medical student to name a disease of homesick soldiers, which entered Spanish as clinical terminology before transforming into the bittersweet emotion we recognize today.
Definition
A sentimentallonging for the past, especially for a period or place associated with happy memories. Originally a medical term for acute homesickness.
The Full Story
Modern Latin, from Greek18th centurywell-attested
Spanish 'nostalgia' was borrowed from Modern Latin 'nostalgia,' a term coined in 1688 by the Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer in his dissertation at the University of Basel. Hofer created the word from Greek 'nóstos' (νόστος, 'return home') and 'álgos' (ἄλγος, 'pain, grief'), to describe a severe, sometimes fatal condition of homesickness he observed among Swiss mercenariesserving far from their Alpine homeland. The word entered Spanish through medical and philosophical literature in the 18th century, gradually