Nostalgia - what is it? We hear this word every day, but do we understand its essence and true meaning? Let's figure it out!
The word nostalgia has Latin roots and consists of two roots: "nostos", which means returning to the homeland, and "algos", which translates as sadness or pain. Thus, to the question: "Nostalgia - what is it?" - the answer is simple: this is homesickness , homeland. In some dictionaries you can see the meaning of this word as "clinical condition". Why?
The fact is that the very concept of "nostalgia" (what it is and with respect to whom to use it) has changed significantly during the development of psychiatry and the development of psychology. For the first time this concept was used by the doctor J. Hofer. In his writings, he spoke of Swiss soldiers who served as mercenaries in other countries, and students who studied away from home. Sick soldiers and students recovered soon after returning to their homelands. The doctor identified three stages of the development of the disease:
- A man who is tired, silent, and looking for loneliness, with sadness constantly reflects on his homeland, not sharing with others his experiences.
- Thoughts about the homeland become obsessive, sleep and digestion are disturbed, pressure rises.
- There is insanity, the “fix idea”, death from exhaustion, if there is no hope of returning home. For Napoleonic soldiers, this condition was like an epidemic.
In the 18th century, thanks to the philosopher J.-J. Russo the concept of nostalgia (what is it and to whom this term is applied) has undergone changes again. It began to be used in relation to urban residents who missed unity with nature in rural conditions.
What is the modern interpretation of the word "nostalgia"? To find out, let's take a look at the Big Dictionary of the Russian Language. There we will see two meanings:
- Longing for the motherland, the father’s home.
- Longing for the past and the lost, for the experienced events of life.
In modern everyday life, the word "nostalgia" has a very expanded second meaning: often it is longing not only for its past, but for entire eras, even very ancient or nonexistent; longing for places where a person has never been, and so on. This feature arose under the influence of science fiction and historical literature, films.
In the dictionary of epithets of the Russian language, the word "longing", which is synonymous with the word "nostalgia", contains more than 150 epithets, both positive and negative. So, nostalgia can be "unbearable, bitter and hopeless", and "bewitching, proud and sweet."
Nostalgia is a special state of a person’s soul , comprehension and rethinking of one’s life, destiny, state of things and events. This is one of the forms of knowing oneself, one's personality. From a philosophical point of view, to the question: "Nostalgia - what is it?" - the answer will be: "This is reflection." This term means activities aimed at self-knowledge. The word reflection has the Latin root "reflexio", which translates as "turning back", which makes these two words not only consonant in meaning, but also etymologically related.
Nostalgia manifests itself in many areas of our lives: in memories, in collecting collections and antiques, in the retro style in clothes and interior, watching photo albums and old films. Nostalgia for the Soviet era was expressed in the opening of restaurants, cafes and hotels with interiors and cuisine of that time.