Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Fernweh


In case you didn’t know, I love to travel and I am fascinated by languages.  While browsing pinterest the other day I saw a pin that said; “Fernweh – ‘an ache for distant places’; a craving for travel”.  The word intrigued me, so I decided to google it and see what else I could find.  The first link I came across informed me that the word isn’t actually English, it is German.  Their definition was different than the one I saw on pinterest, but carried the same idea: "literally, 'farsickness'; 'an ache for the distance'; wanderlust".  Since the word wanderlust linked to another Wikipedia article I decided to click on it and see what it would tell me.  Here’s what I found out: 
“The loanword from the German language became an English term in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering that may be traced back to German Romanticism and the German system of  apprenticeship  (the  journeyman).” 
 
And I immediately thought to myself (as if you can think to someone else – I’m not even sure why people say that), “Do I love to travel because my ancestors are mostly (if not all) German?”  It’s kind of crazy, I always assumed I got it from my Grandmother – she was always on the go.  She always wanted to drive somewhere, or go visit someone, and had visited several countries with my Grandfather before I was born.  She’s of German descent as well, so maybe it’s a combination of the two.  I always remember her telling me, "Home is where you go when there's no place else to go."  Regardless, I found that little tid-bit of information about the word wanderlust to be fascinating.  Makes me wonder if any of my ancestors were gypsies....

*I do not own the rights to this photo*


wan·der·lust (noun)

 a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

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