October 18, 2005

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The definition of nostalgia by Milan Kundera:

"The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return... What in English is called "homesickness." Or in German: Heimweh. In Dutch: heimwee. But this reduces that great notion to just its spatial element. One of the oldest European languages, Icelandic (like English) makes a distinction between two terms: söknuður: nostalgia in its general sense; and heimprá; longing for the homeland... In that etymological light nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of now knowing. You are far away, and I don't know what has become of you. My country is far away and I don't know what is happening there."


- Via Indian Blogger Neha Viswanathan

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