Hiraeth
Welsh term for homesickness tinged with sadness or a sense of loss
title: "Hiraeth" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["culture-of-cornwall", "nostalgia", "culture-of-wales", "welsh-words-and-phrases", "words-and-phrases-with-no-direct-english-translation"] description: "Welsh term for homesickness tinged with sadness or a sense of loss" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiraeth" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Welsh term for homesickness tinged with sadness or a sense of loss ::
Hiraeth () is a Welsh word for a type of longing or homesickness for Wales, particularly with a nostalgic character.
Etymology
Derived from 'long' and (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 'long' + 'pain, grief, sorrow, longing'. In the earliest citations in early Welsh poetry it implies 'grief or longing after the loss or death of someone'.
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 hiraeth.
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
References
- Boynton, Jessica. "Hiraeth". Eastern Michigan University.
- University of Wales Dictionary, s.v. 'hiraeth'
- Crossley-Baxter, Lily. (15 February 2021). "The untranslatable word that connects Wales". BBC.
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