Word of the Day: NOSTALGIA

nostalgia (noun) – a longing for home; a wistful yearning for things of the past [nuh staal juh]

BREAKDOWN: NOST- (a return home) + -ALGIA (feeling pain)

• nostalgic means longing for or thinking fondly of a past time or condition

“…In the late 1600s, Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer noticed a pattern in his patients who were living far from home. Those who were obsessed with returning to their estranged locations became physically, sometimes fatally, sick. 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).” —Adrienne Matei