:Hiraeth
{{short description|Welsh term for homesickness tinged with sadness or a sense of loss}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{lang|cy|Hiraeth|nocat=y}}}}
{{Wiktionary|hiraeth}}
{{lang|cy|Hiraeth}} ({{IPA|cy|hɪraɨ̯θ, hiːrai̯θ}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.geiriadur.net/sain/hiraeth.mp3 |title=How to pronounce hiraeth |publisher=geiriadur.net}}) is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. The University of Wales, Lampeter, likens it to a homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture.{{cite web|title=Hiraeth|url=http://www.geiriadur.net/index.php?page=ateb&term=Hiraeth&direction=we&type=all&whichpart=exact|work=Geiriadur Welsh–English / English–Welsh On-line Dictionary |publisher=University of Wales Trinity Saint David |accessdate=2017-04-16 }} It is a mixture of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness or an earnest desire for the Wales of the past.{{cite web |last=Boynton |first=Jessica |title=Hiraeth |url=http://people.emich.edu/jboynton/research/welsh.html |publisher=Eastern Michigan University |accessdate=June 21, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912151902/http://people.emich.edu/jboynton/research/welsh.html |archivedate=September 12, 2006 }}
The Cornish and Breton equivalents are {{lang|kw|hireth}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.cornishdictionary.org.uk/#hireth |title=Gerlyver Kernewek | |publisher=www.cornishdictionary.org.uk}} and {{lang|br|hiraezh}}. It is associated with the Amharic-Ethiopian concept of {{Lang|am|tizita}}, the German concept of {{Lang|de|Sehnsucht}}, the Galician-Portuguese {{lang|pt|saudade}} or the Romanian {{lang|ro|dor}}.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210214-the-welsh-word-you-cant-translate |title=The untranslatable word that connects Wales |first=Lily |last=Crossley-Baxter |publisher=BBC |date=15 February 2021 |access-date=27 February 2021 }} A similar Scottish Gaelic term, cianalas, also refers to a type of longing or homesickness, often used in relation to the Outer Hebrides.
Etymology
Derived from {{wikt-lang|cy|hir}} 'long' and {{wikt-lang|cy|-aeth}} (a nominal suffix creating an abstract noun from an adjective), the word is literally equivalent to English 'longing'. A less likely, but possible, etymology is {{wikt-lang|cy|hir}} 'long' + {{wikt-lang|cy|aeth}} 'pain, grief, sorrow, longing'. In the earliest citations in early Welsh poetry it implies 'grief or longing after the loss or death of someone'.University of Wales Dictionary, s.v. 'hiraeth'
Culture
Nineteenth-century attempts to spread the English language through its exclusive use in schools at the expense of the Welsh language, following the 1847 Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales (commonly known as the "Treachery of the Blue Books" in Wales), led to an increase in {{lang|cy|hiraeth}}. Between 1870 and 1914, approximately 40% of Welsh emigrants returned to Wales, a much higher percentage than the rest of Britain, and it has been claimed that this was due to {{lang|cy|hiraeth}}.
See also
{{Portal|Wales|Cornwall}}
Notes
=Citations=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography =
- {{cite book|last=Williams |first=Robert|year=1865|url=https://archive.org/details/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft/mode/2up |title=Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: A Dictionary of the Ancient Celtic Language of Cornwall, in which the Words are elucidated by Copious Examples from the Cornish Works now remaining; With Translations in English|publisher=London: Trubner & Co}} [https://archive.org/stream/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft#page/217/mode/1up p. 217]
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150103072254/http://www.smith.edu/kahninstitute/shortterm_projects_hiraeth.php Hiraeth Smith College: Kahn Liberal Arts Institute]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/yourvideo/media/pages/gillian_thomas_01.shtml BBC Wales - Arts - Hiraeth]
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Category:Welsh words and phrases
Category:Words and phrases with no direct English translation