Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
Our German word this week is another famously untranslatable term that’s difficult to sum up in one English word. No matter whether you translate it as desire, longing or yearning, die Sehnsucht is most definitely an emotive German term.
Have you ever felt a deep, emotional, almost painful, longing for something - even if you can’t quite put your finger on what that something is? Could be that you’re experiencing a bout of Sehnsucht. How very German of you.
The truth is that the concept of Sehnsucht is hard to satisfactorily describe in English. So much so that the stage director and author Georg Tabori called it one of those quasi-mystical terms in German that has no adequate corresponding terms in other languages.
It might help if we break it down. Another good German compound noun, Sehnsucht is composed of two parts: Sehn, from sehnen (to yearn) and Sucht (addiction or craving).
It’s not clear where the word sehnen comes from, but many people have tried to pin down a definition for it over the years, including the Brothers Grimm, who wrote in their dictionary that it means “to grieve, to grasp, to demand something, especially related to the pain and desire of love.” Sucht does not come - as you might expect - from suchen (to search), but from siech, which means sick.
Put them together and you can see that Sehnsucht literally means a sickness caused by yearning or desire. This adequately characterises both the positive and negative aspects of the emotion - since Sehnsucht is generally agreed to be accompanied by both positive and negative feelings.
However, it goes a little deeper than just a yearning or a desire. Sehnsucht can represent thoughts and feelings about all aspects of life that are imperfect or unfinished, and comes along with a desire to experience utopian, alternative realities. It could be described as someone’s search for happiness as they come to terms with the fact that some desires are unattainable.
It can also be experienced as a longing for a distant place - not necessarily anywhere that exists on Earth, but somewhere that is very familiar and most definitely “home”. In this sense, it is a type of nostalgia.
As you might expect for a term that’s provoked so much dialogue, the concept of Sehnsucht is explored or invoked in a number of different cultural creations in Germany. You might want to take a look at some of these to get a better understanding of what these Germans are driving at:
A poem that inspired composers like Franz Schubert and Siegfried Wagner.
Another famous poem that was later set to music by multiple composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven.
A romantic poem, published in 1834. This poem is sometimes known by its first line: "Es schienen so golden die Sterne".
A TV movie from 2002, starring Christian Kahrmann, Alexandra Kamp and Günther Schramm.
A comedy TV series that has been ran on NDR from 2015 to 2019, starring Katrin Ingendoh.
... And it has also given way to a number of German proverbs or sayings about Sehnsucht. Fit in with the natives and impress you friends by dropping some of these Sprüche in conversation and trying to look profound:
Only those who have experienced longing can know what I suffer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When desire trumps fear, courage is born - Unknown
Wanting just leads to more wanting. There’s no end to desire - Nicola Yoon
Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love - Friedrich Nietzsche
Profound desire, true desire, is the desire to be close to someone - Paulo Coelho
Sensitive people do not suffer for this reason or another, but all alone because nothing in the world can satisfy their longing - Jean-Paul Sartre
Once you have managed to recognise your desire as anticipation, you can never really be unhappy again - Peter Hohl
Whichever way you put it, Sehnsucht is certainly an emotive concept. The Germans sure know how to do deep thinking.
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