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Hiraeth, there's no English translation.

TheCatWoman

Hiraeth means a sense of belonging and home comming, a sense of self with the landscape. Obviously most Welsh people feel it towards somewhere in Wales they feel bonded with, but it could be anywhere really and of course it's not just Welsh people that feel it. 

There are a few places that make me feel this, here on Anglesey, obviously, but also south Dorset around Weymouth, it's like I know this land, it makes my soul feel young, I can feel the generations of people who have lived and loved in this landscape. It's more than just liking somewhere or happy holiday memories but something deeper and more ancient.

Anyone else know this feeling?

Parents

  • It’s good to have a feeling of being ‘at home’ in a place or situation, and it’s what I feel about my own home area in Ireland. I don’t know if it’s the same feeling as ‘hiraeth’, but it’s certainly a sense of being at ease and having a connection to place and culture. There are signs everywhere in archaeology, architecture, geology and religion, of what has been before I was born, so that gives me a feeling of stability and security. 

    I have lived away from Ireland on several occasions for part of my life but each time after a short while I would become homesick, even though I enjoyed being in some of the places. It wasn’t that I wanted my parents, it was more a yearning for my home town and culture. In that way I had síreacht for home (Irish word meaning ‘wistfulness and longing’). It’s not the same thing as ‘hireath’ but it reflect some of what I feel for my home. Perhaps Irish Trad (traditional music) lamenting influences síreacht.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    Wikipedia says The Cornish and Breton equivalents are hireth[4] and hiraezh.

    The article doesn’t mention Irish but as our Celtic tribal ancestors intermingled the concepts might be related. I know I’ve said this before, but I still need an etymologist to assist me, or would a lexicologist be more appropriate?

    Separately, I’m looking at secondary sources to find connections between Ugaritic texts and those in the Bible that correspond toideas of Yahweh. It’s clear that Yahweh was trying to distance himself from El, but as the etymology of ancient languages eludes me, I can’t study primary sources. 

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I know the feeling about not being able to go further with research because of lack of materials or because I can't read ancient languages.

    I think you're right about Celtic speakers, I guess you'd need to go back to old Welsh,  to get a better idea although I don't know when the languages changed and developed into the ones we recognise now. I guess it would of been around the time of the diaspora at the end of the Roman period? 

    I find it fascinating what words or concepts different languages have or don't have, like there being no hiraeth in English, it seems to be a concept that many English people don't understand either. Can anyone think of others?

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  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I know the feeling about not being able to go further with research because of lack of materials or because I can't read ancient languages.

    I think you're right about Celtic speakers, I guess you'd need to go back to old Welsh,  to get a better idea although I don't know when the languages changed and developed into the ones we recognise now. I guess it would of been around the time of the diaspora at the end of the Roman period? 

    I find it fascinating what words or concepts different languages have or don't have, like there being no hiraeth in English, it seems to be a concept that many English people don't understand either. Can anyone think of others?

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