The word “nostalgia” was coined in the seventeenth century by a Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer. The word was a Latinized combination of two Greek words: nostos, meaning “a return home” (think Odysseus), and algos, meaning “pain.” Hofer used his new word to describe a medical condition, one he noticed to be particularly common among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, which might best be described as acute homesickness – homesickness so acute that it could sometimes be fatal.
The word remained in use as a medical term, often applied to soldiers, well into the nineteenth century. For example, in 1865, an American newspaper described conditions at a major prisoner of war camp where captured Confederate soldiers were housed:
At Camp Douglas, Chicago, there are fourteen hundred prisoners on the sick list, with an average number of interments of six per day. One of the most frequent causes of death is nostalgia, which is the medical designation for home sickness. …
