Monday 23 May 2011

Nostalgia... indefinable word

            




 Vienna - The Türckenschanzpark in a rainy day on April 2011
Shot by laura Tedeschi



In greek "nostos" means "return" and "álgos means "suffering". So nostalgia is the suffering caused by the unfulfilled desire to return. For this fundamental notion most Europeans can use a word of Greek origin (nostalgia) and other words that have roots in the national language;
the apaniards say "añoranza", the portuguese say "saudade". In each language these words have a different semantic nuance. Often mean only the sadness caused by the inability to return home. Longing for their homeland. Regret the home country, which, in inglish, is said "homesickness", or, in german, "heimweh" in dutch "heimwee". But these words are all a reduction of this great concept. One of the oldest European languages, Icelandic, distinguishes the two terms: "söknudur" nostalgia in the broadest sense, and "heimfra" longing for their homeland. For this notion the Czechs, next to the word "nostalgia" taken from greek, they all have a particolar noun: "stesk", the most movingly czech sentence of love is: "styská se mi po tobe" I miss you, I can not bear the pain of your absence. In Spanish, "añoranza" comes from the verb "anor" nostalgic, which comes from the Catalan enyorar, in turn derived from the latin ignore.

Given this etymology, nostalgia seems to be the suffering of ignorance. YOU ARE FAR AWAY, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS ABOUT YOU.
My country is far away, and I do not know what's going on there. Some languages ​​have some difficulty with nostalgia: the French can not express it except with the noun of greek origin and not on the verb, they can say: je m'ennuie de toi (I miss you "), but the verb s'ennuyer is probably too small for a feeling so bad. The Germans rarely use the word "nostalgia" in its greek form and prefer to say "sehnsucht" the desire for what is absent, but the sehnsucht can be applied to what it was like to that which has never been (a new adventure ) and therefore does not necessarily imply the idea of ​​a "nostos" to include in sehnsucht the obsession of the return should be added a complement: sehnsucht nach der vergangenheit, nach der verlorenen kindheit, nach der ersten liebe (longing of the past, 's lost childhood, first love ").

From the preface of the book "Ignorance" of M. KUNDERA:
"How old were you?".
"Only twenty. And then the games were made, once and for all. That's where I made a mistake, an error is difficult to define, subtle, but from which stemmed all my life and I have never succeeded to remedy. "
"An irreparable mistake committed in the age of ignorance."
"Yes."
"It 's at that age that people get married, you have the first baby, you choose a profession. Then comes the day when you know and understand many things, but it's too late, because your whole life has been decided at a time when you did not know anything. "














    
    

46 comments:

Clint said...

These sentiments are so correct! Especially the observation that our lives are pretty much decided for us after we make a few big mistakes early on.

Unknown said...

ciao Laura post meraviglioso!
descrivi i sentimenti come se li stessi dipingendo!
complimenti!
buona giornata Michele pianetatempolibero

P.S. io sono stato a Vienna 4 anni fa e altre volte nel passato, no di recente.Altrimenti ti sarei venuta sicuramente a cercare
ciao carissima amica Michele

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Clint

yes Clint but thanks Got it is not for all this way...

thank you very much!

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Michele

Grazie Michele sei troppo gentile.
Sono riflessioni sul valore e il significato delle parole a seconda dei paesi...

la prossima volta che vieni a Vienna fai un fischio ho tanti quadri da vendere heheheheeh

ciao!!

HANS-PETER ZÜRCHER said...

Ein gelungenes Bild, gefällt mir gut...

Liebe Grüsse

Hans-Peter

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

POESIE-LYRIK-HAIKU-KURZGESCHICHTEN

danke vielmals Peter :-)

Gabe said...

bellissima foto,ciao Laura buon inizio settimana

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Gabe

:-) grazie Gabe, buona settimana!

Meowlissa said...

So very true! What a fantastic photo Laura =)

Anonymous said...

Ciao Laura!
Grazie a te ho riapprezzato Guccini, un pò messo da parte.
Bello anche lo studio della parola nostalgia !

Molti baci

Pino

William Cook said...

Hi Laura--Thanks for the study of "nostalgia". What a strange word. I suppose it all comes down to lamenting the passage of time, this melancholy attachment to what we perceive as better times, better places--whatever--always tugging at us in the background. The sepia snapshot of the fountain is a nice touch. Time to paint, right? Wm

Bitch said...

Hast du, meine liebe Laura,
Sehnsucht nach der Heimat?
Or is it only a little sad sounding
text, to find the roots for this
incredible word Nostalgia?

Send you my kisses your way!!!!!

Adriano Maini said...

Un abbraccio?

carlos diez said...

Nostalgia, morriña, melancolia, in spanish, tristura in basque, all are words to express our feelings towards our country, town, most of them related to people or relatives we have met before. Your photo could sintetize this feeling, the water and the circles formed have the same center, our past that we always remember.

Anthony Duce said...

Enjoyed the reading of this. Thank you for sharing.

Denise SCARAMAI said...

Laura,
questa parola può avere varianti semantiche, ma definito molto bene con questa immagine di Vienna!
la scena e questi colori, arrivare direttamente al cuore,
dove mai si trova la 'saudade'
bellissima riflessione ...

baci, cara

Celeste Bergin said...

I guess it is absolutely true that what we do when we are very young shapes us for what follows. I don't know that I have ever thought of it that way. Thought provoking post...and I love the photo.

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Meowlissa

:-))) thank you my dear!

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Pino

ciaoooooooo é smepre un grande piacere vederti nel blog :-)
guccini é un grande!

un grande abbraccio, baci

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

William Cook

I thank you so much Wiliam :-)

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Bitch

:-) manchmal habe sehr grösse sensucht nach Italien, und nach den leute vor allem...

:-)
thank you for comming my dear Monika, kiss

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Adriano Maini

:-) ciao Adriano!

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

carlos diez

ola carlos, vos tiene razon... es mui interesante para mi toda la semantica...

gracias

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Anthony Duce

thank you Anthony :-)

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Denise Scaramai

:-) cara Denise tu puoi capire e mi fa molto piacere :-)
un forte abbraccio

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Celeste Bergin

:-) .... dear Celeste thank you, you are very delicate and nice

dieter michalek said...

wunderschön.
lieben gruß
dieter

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

dieter michalek

oh danke Dieter! bis bald

Marta Benicá said...

Olá,como vc está? Espero que muito bem. Está linda esta imagem. Passei para lhe dizer que o blog está fazendo um aninho e eu queria agradecê-la por ser seguidora este tempo todo, muito obrigada. Um agrande beijo, Marta.

Anonymous said...

Estaba enferma, perdona mi auencia...
Es fantástico!
Besos.

Andrew Finnie said...

Hi Laura, sorry to be sbent so long, I must be suffering from Nostalgia, eh? :)

Ahh what a great text you have chosen for your image. And the image itself - it is so like those images I have of myself as a little boy playing at the side of a lake - you have captured nostalgia supremely well, in the big sense of the word.

Greetings and hugs from 'ere.

:)

Romantik Seelchen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Marta Benicá

obrigado eu tambem Marta!

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Remei

no te preocupes, importante e que ahora vos esta bien!
un besito y gracias

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

Andrew Finnie

Oh thank you Andrew :-) I'm really glad that you like this one

ps: I'm absent too in this last time... biu it will be better time :-)

see you my dear

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

jasmin

Danke liebe Jasmin :-)

Anonymous said...

I love images like these..like expired film..or good old polaroid :)
Nice one Laura!

David Toms said...

This is a wonderful post. You have captured the mood completely!

Jaime Baiao said...

What a beautiful feeling!!
A good hug!

Pinecone Stew said...

Have a SUPER weekend !

Ellie Great said...

Amazing!

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

Why is nostalgia "suffering" ... I think it is sentimental !

Sébastien Haton said...

Thanks to you, I remember (with nostalgia ? I'm not sure...) my first travel in Vienna. It was 8 years ago and I deeply enjoyed this town.

I also like very much your linguistic lecture. As a lexicologist myself, your words really speak to my brain :))

Friendly,
sébastien h.

Pinecone Stew said...

Have a SUPER weekend !

Andrew Finnie said...

Hey Laura

we are missing your work!

hope you are well

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

:-) thank you my friends you are all really great