nostalgia

Etymology

Recorded in English in 1726,^[1] borrowed from New Latin nostalgia,^[2][3] coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer in a dissertation at the University of Basel^[1][4] as a rendering of German Heimweh (“homesickness”).^[1][4] It is formed from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “return home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).^[2][4] Greek nóstos is related to neomai “to return, get home”, and, according to Watkins, from Proto-Indo-European *nes- (“to return safely home”).^[1]

The word originally named a severe homesickness considered as a disease, said to be peculiar to the Swiss and often fatal.^[1]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. [1] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org