German word of the day: Wanderlust
Why do I need to know
Wanderlust
?
Even if you've heard this term before and have an inkling of what it might mean, it's always helpful to know the original translation of words that make their way into the English language.
In this case,
Wanderlust
in German tends be used a little differently from how it's used these days in English.
If you manage to use it in the right way, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of German idioms and cultural history, as well as expressing perfectly that 'itchy feet' feeling that can hit you at certain times of year.
What does it mean?
Die Wanderlust
is a combination of the German noun
Lust
, meaning desire, and the verb
wandern
, meaning to hike. Taken together,
Wanderlust
is the desire to get out and go walking in nature.
The phrase dates back to German Romanticism - an artistic movement in the 19th century that valorised intense spiritual connections with nature and the self. In countless works of art produced at the time, poets and painters would valorise the capacity for deep reflection they felt while out in the wilderness.
Perhaps the most famous depiction of this is in the Casper David Friedrich painting,
Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer
(The Wanderer Over a Sea of Fog). In it, a young man stands on a rocky verge peering out over the mountain mists, lost in contemplation.
Caspar David Friedrich's 'Wanderer Over a Sea of Fog'. Photo: Wiki Commons
These days, when you hear a German talking about
Wanderlust,
they're likely to mean that they're excited to don their hiking boots and head to the great outdoors. In English, the term has become much broader, denoting a lust for adventure and travel - usually in foreign lands.
Germany does have a term for precisely this feeling, but interestingly enough, it's not
Wanderlust
. If you want to talk about your desire to get out of your current surroundings and head to more exotic climes, the word you need is
Fernweh
.
READ ALSO:
German Word of the Day - Das Fernweh
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Use it like this:
Nach einer langen Arbeitswoche verspüre ich große Wanderlust - ich will einfach raus in die Natur.
After a long work week, I feel a strong desire to go hiking - I just want to get out into nature.
Das schöne Frühlingswetter macht richtig Lust auf Wandern.
The nice spring weather really makes me want to go hiking.
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