Talk:Hiraeth
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[edit]Should this be primarily about the word with a seperate article or section for the film? Surely the real definition of hiraeth should be from the word, with the word therefore being primary and the film secondary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MRMLondon (talk • contribs) 13:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
- Film is not notable, Welsh words are defined in cy.wiktionary, hiraeth. Abductive (reasoning) 19:17, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
it means "nostalgia"
[edit]in what way does this word not mean nostalgia? Maybe the Welsh walk around feeling more wistful than the rest of us, or maybe they just don't. Folk etymologists like to make a big deal about "eskimos have 17 words for snow, there is NO TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH..." which, whether it's true or not, is not a big deal anyhow. But the feeling evoked by hiraeth in Welsh, if you want to make a stink about how unique it is, you need to describe it as part of a constellation of other Welsh words to indicate when you would not use it or what additional sense it has... but seems to me nostalgia covers it, as half the time nostalgia appears in print it is explained that probably the good old days weren't even as we remember them anyway which apparently is how hiraeth sometimes feels. 96.246.57.125 (talk) 16:02, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
- Nostalgia means a longing for the past, but where I have encountered the term among Welsh disapora is a "longing to be back in Wales", so "homesickenss" is the nearest equivalent. It's not simply a translation of homesickness, because it would not apply to non-Welsh longing to be back wherever they came from.70.67.185.209 (talk) 00:36, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
what university? what source?
[edit]
- The University of Wales, Lampeter likens it to homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed.
Mentioning a university is hardly a proper citation.
- It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, or an earnest desire[1] for the Wales of the past.[2]
Thnidu (talk) 00:26, 17 April 2017 (UTC)
References
- ↑ "Hiraeth". Geiriadur Welsh-English / English-Welsh On-line Dictionary. University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
- ↑ Boynton, Jessica. "Hiraeth". Eastern Michigan University. Archived from the original on September 12, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
Etymology
[edit]This hir + aeth looks like dodgy folk etymology to me, especially since there is an old Irish cognate sírecht with roughly the same meaning. They suggest a proto-Celtic *sirakto-. Paul S (talk) 16:11, 26 May 2021 (UTC)
"No English equivalent"
[edit]is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation
Words cannot express my disdain for this orientalist nonsense that always shows up in discussions of non-English words. First of all, no foreign-langusge word has a 'direct English translation,' translation is literally always a game of approximation. Secondly, in this case it does - there is no meaning in this word that is not conveyed by the phrase "nostalgic homesickness". I have seen the same discussions around the Portuguese 'saudade,' where they describe it as having 'no direct English translation' but then as 'a deep and profound longing for an idealised past' or whatever - a.k.a, just nostalgia.
I plan to do a big rewrite here, I just wanted to drop this here first as a manifesto for my changes. Athanelar (talk) 10:12, 31 January 2026 (UTC)