But while nostalgia shed its medical connotation centuries ago, its current definition never quite evolved to suit the nuances of its poetic second act. It is now the purview of romantic poets, philosophers, and artists, not war-addled soldiers. The word then entered the second life we know it for now: an emotional state characterized by a wistful affection for the past. Doctors agreed that Hofer was wrong, and the word “nostalgia” was no longer deemed a medical diagnosis. It was only in the 19th century that doctors finally stopped seeking a literal “nostalgia bone.” It was only in the 19th century that doctors finally stopped seeking a literal “ nostalgia bone” responsible for homesickness and abandoned using leeches to try and suck the melancholy right out of people. In 1790, French doctor Jourdan Le Cointe administered the strategy of “inciting pain and terror” by threatening the sick with a jab from a “red-hot poker.” If that wasn’t bad enough, one Russian general reportedly preferred nipping outbreaks in the bud by burying the first to succumb alive. While sending the afflicted home was recognized as the best cure for nostalgia, scaring it out of them was also a popular treatment plan. (Curiously, cases also spiked in the fall.) It ran so rampant among Swiss mercenaries fighting far-flung wars that playing “Khue-Reyen”-an old Swiss milking song that seemed to send soldiers into a contagiously nostalgic frenzy-was punishable by death. The disease’s reported symptoms included loss of appetite, fainting, heightened suicide risk, and, according to Swiss doctor Albert Van Holler, hallucinations of the people and places you miss. To reflect this phenomena, he coined the medical term “nostalgia” in 1688, which he created by combining the Greek words nostos (homecoming) and alga (pain). Those who were obsessed with returning to their estranged locations became physically, sometimes fatally, sick. Every time a new word is created, it reflects a society’s need for that word it fills a previously inarticulable void with a neologism that encapsulates a unique feeling, object, action-or malady.įor example, in the late 1600s, Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer noticed a pattern in his patients who were living far from home. Each language contains terms with no direct equivalent that give us a glimpse into the intimate elements of a culture’s distinct character. Many linguists believe the words we speak have an influence on our thoughts and feelings.
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