Romantic Nostalgia Wallpaper

Description: Nostalgia describes a longing for the past, often in idealized form. Nostalgia may or may not also be known as homesickness. The exact meaning changed over time and today nostalgia isn't what it used to be. The term was newly coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer (1669-1752), a Swiss medical student. The word is made up of two Greek roots... ( +expand to view full text )

Description: Nostalgia describes a longing for the past, often in idealized form. Nostalgia may or may not also be known as homesickness. The exact meaning changed over time and today nostalgia isn't what it used to be. The term was newly coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer (1669-1752), a Swiss medical student. The word is made up of two Greek roots (¦Íό¦Ò¦Ó¦Ïς = nostos = returning home, and ά¦Ë¦Ã¦Ïς = algos = pain/longing), to refer to "the pain a sick person feels because he wishes to return to his native land, and fears never to see it again". This neologism was so successful that people forgot its origin. Homesickness is often given as a synonym for nostalgia. During this period, from the late seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century, that doctors diagnosed and treated nostalgia, it also had other names in various languages ¡ª mal du pays (country sickness) in French, Heimweh (home-pain) in German, hiraeth in Welsh, and el mal de coraz¨®n (heart-pain) in Spanish