View source for Sehnsucht

{{Short description|German noun for an emotion of longing}}
{{Other uses}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{lang|de|Sehnsucht|nocat=yes}}}}
[[File:Sehnsucht (1895), oil painting by Oskar Zwintscher (1870-1916).jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|{{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} by {{lang|de|[[Oskar Zwintscher]]|italic=no}}, {{circa|1900}}]]
'''{{lang|de|Sehnsucht}}''' ({{IPA|de|ˈzeːnˌzʊxt|audio=De-Sehnsucht.ogg}}) is a [[German language|German]] noun translated as "longing", "desire", "yearning", or "craving".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dict.leo.org/german-english/sehnsucht |title=LEO Results for "sehnsucht"}}</ref> Some psychologists use the word to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences.<ref name="Reference 1">{{cite journal |last1=Kotter-Grühn |first1=D. |last2=Wiest |first2=M. |last3=Zurek |first3=P. |last4=Scheibe |first4=S. |title=What is it we are longing for? Psychological and demographic factors influencing the contents of Sehnsucht (life longings) |journal=Journal of Research in Personality |year=2009 |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=428–437 |doi=10.1016/j.jrp.2009.01.012 }}</ref>

==Etymology and language change==
A [[suffering]] reference of the word Sehnsucht in Middle High German usage is associated with "Siechtum" in the [[German dictionary]] as follows: Weakening the disease reference, the word later denoted the high "degree of a violent and often painful longing for something, especially when one has no hope of attaining what is desired, or when attainment is uncertain, still distant."

The word "Sehnsucht" is used as a [[Germanism (linguistics)|Germanism]] in some other languages. Because of its vagueness, [[analogous]] terms cannot easily be cited. [[Portuguese language]] has the similar but not identical term [[saudade]].

== ''Sehnsucht'' in mythology ==
{{unreferenced section | date = March 2024}}
[[File:Heinrich Vogeler Sehnsucht (Träumerei) c1900.jpg|thumb|Sehnsucht (Dreaming) by [[Heinrich Vogeler]] about 1900]]
In [[Greek mythology]], the [[Erotes]] are the gods of loving ''Sehnsucht'', found with [[Eros]] in the company of [[Aphrodite]].

A common mythical explanation of the feeling of Sehnsucht is offered by [[Plato]] in his dialogue ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'' though the speech of [[Aristophanes]], who presents a comic and unusual myth about spherical two-headed men. The myth was invented by [[Plato]] himself, but likely utilized mythical motifs which predate his work. [[Aristophanes]], the famous comic playwright, gives a speech about [[Eros]]. According to the myth, humans originally had spherical bodies as well as four hands and feet and two heads. In their great arrogance, they tried to storm the sky and dwell amongst the gods. For this, [[Zeus]] punished them by cutting each of them in half, cleaving them into people with two arms, two legs, and just a single head. These halves are the people of today. However, these divinely divided humans suffer from their incompleteness; each one is looking for the lost other half from which they were split. The longing for the former wholeness is expressed [[Eroticism|erotic]] desire, which aims at union back into a two headed, four armed, and four legged state. The state of longing for the completeness of one's lost half, caused by the primordial division of the human beings by Zeus, can be characterized as ''Sehnsucht''.

== In psychology ==
{{Off topic|date=May 2019}}
[[File:Sehnsucht Susanne Kraißer.jpg|thumb|{{lang|de|Sehnsucht}}, sculpture by {{lang|de|[[Susanne Kraißer]]|italic=no}}]]
Psychologists have worked to capture the essence of {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} by identifying its six core characteristics:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheibe |first1=S. |last2=Freund |first2=A. M. |last3=Baltes |first3=P. B. |title=Toward a developmental psychology of Sehnsucht (life longings): The optimal (utopian) life |journal=Developmental Psychology |year=2007 |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=778–795 |doi=10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.778 |pmid=17484587 |s2cid=15306026 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ecea/b4cdf54505e028b5174b9c9143ac92556536.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308184346/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ecea/b4cdf54505e028b5174b9c9143ac92556536.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-08 }}</ref>
# utopian conceptions of ideal development;
# sense of incompleteness and imperfection of life;
# conjoint time focus on the past, present, and future;
# ambivalent (bittersweet) emotions;
# reflection and evaluation of one's life; and
# symbolic richness.

In a cross-cultural study conducted to determine whether the German concept of {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} could be generalized to the United States, four samples of American and German participants “rated their 2 most important life longings and completed measures of subjective well-being and health.”<ref name="Reference 2">{{cite journal |last1=Scheibe |first1=S. |last2=Blanchard-Fields |first2=F. |author-link2=Fredda Blanchard-Fields |last3=Wiest |first3=M. |last4=Freund |first4=A. M. |title=Is longing only for Germans? A cross-cultural comparison of sehnsucht in Germany and the United States |journal=Developmental Psychology |year=2011 |doi=10.1037/a0021807 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=603–618 |pmid=21219068 }}</ref> German and American participants did not differ in their ability to identify life longings or the intensity of their {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}}. However, German participants associated it more with unattainable, utopian states while Americans reported the concept as not as important to everyday life.

Some researchers posit that {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} has a developmental function that involves life management. By imagining overarching and possibly unachievable goals, individuals may be able to create direction in their life by developing more tangible goals, or “stepping stones” that will aid them on their path toward their ideal self. "[{{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} has] important developmental functions, including giving directionality for life planning and helping to cope with loss and important, yet unattainable wishes by pursuing them in one's imagination."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheibe |first1=S. |last2=Freund |first2=A. M. |title=Approaching Sehnsucht (life longings) from a life-span perspective: The role of personal utopias in development |journal=Research in Human Development |year=2008 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=121–133 |doi=10.1080/15427600802034868 |s2cid=143657106 }}</ref>  It can also operate as a self-regulatory mechanism.

However, in a study that attempted to discover whether {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}} played an active role in one's ability to influence their own development, psychologists asked 81 participants to report “their most important personal goals and life longings, and [evaluate] these with respect to their cognitive, emotional, and action-related characteristics.”<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mayser |first1=S. |last2=Scheibe |first2=S. |last3=Riediger |first3=M. |title=(Un)reachable? An empirical differentiation of goals and life longings |journal=European Psychologist |year=2008 |volume=13 |pages=126–140 |doi=10.1027/1016-9040.13.2.126 |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0024-FBCB-C |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Results showed that goals were perceived as more closely linked to everyday actions, and as such more controllable. {{lang|de|Sehnsucht}}, on the other hand, was reported as more related to the past and future, and therefore more emotionally and developmentally ambiguous.

Also, in a study conducted in 2009, 168 middle-aged childless women were asked to rate their wish for children according to intensity and attainability. If the women rated their wish as intense and long-standing, their wish was considered a life-longing. If they rated their wish as intense and attainable, it was simply a goal. “The pursuit of the wish for children as a life longing was positively related to well-being only when participants had high control over the experience of this life longing and when other self-regulation strategies (goal adjustment) failed.”<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kotter-Grühn |first1=D. |last2=Scheibe |first2=S. |last3=Blanchard-Fields |first3=F. |author-link3=Fredda Blanchard-Fields |last4=Baltes |first4=P. B. |title=Developmental emergence and functionality of Sehnsucht (life longings): The sample case of involuntary childlessness in middle-aged women |journal=Psychology and Aging |year=2009 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=634–644 |doi=10.1037/a0016359 |pmid=19739919 }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
{{anchor|Classical music}}"{{lang|de|Sehnsucht|italic=no}}" is a poem by {{lang|de|[[Friedrich Schiller]]|italic=no}} that inspired composers like {{lang|de|[[Franz Schubert]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|de|[[Siegfried Wagner]]|italic=no}}. {{lang|de|[[Goethe]]|italic=no}}'s "{{lang|de|[[Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt]]|italic=no}}" was set to music by multiple composers, including [[Ludwig van Beethoven]].<ref>[http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=17759 "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt"] at LiederNet Archive</ref>

{{anchor|Lewis}}Longing, specifically longing for some unknown joy, is a central idea in many of the books by [[C. S. Lewis]], such as his autobiography ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'' (1955).

[[Richard Strauss]] composed a setting of [[Detlev von Liliencron]]'s poem "Sehnsucht" in 1896 ([[Sehnsucht (Strauss)|Opus 32, number 2]]).

Sehnsucht appears in the title of two songs by [[Einstürzende Neubauten]], ''Sehnsucht'' (1981), from ''[[Kollaps]]'', and ''Sehnsucht - Zitternd'' (1985), from [[Halber Mensch]].

''[[Sehnsucht (Rammstein album)|Sehnsucht]]'' (1997) is the title of the second album, and title track of that album, by the German metal band [[Rammstein]].
 
''[[Sehnsucht (Lacrimosa album)|Sehnsucht]]'' (2009) is the title of an album by the German gothic metal band [[Lacrimosa (band)|Lacrimosa]].

In 2011, the film director Badran Roy Badran treated the concept of Sehnsucht in his feature film ''A Play Entitled Sehnsucht''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2248661/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1|title=A Play Entitled Sehnsucht|website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/user/ur32552023/comments?ref_=tt_urv|title=Reviews written by Khourysara6|work=IMDb}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{lang|cy|[[Hiraeth]]}}
* {{lang|ja-Latn|[[Mono no aware]]}}
* [[Peak experience]]
* [[Romanticism]]
* {{lang|pt|[[Saudade]]}}
* {{lang|ja-Latn|[[Wabi-sabi]]}}
* {{lang|de|[[Weltschmerz]]}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{Citation |last=Bruner |given1=Kurt |surname2=Ware |given2=Jim |year=2005 |title=Finding God in the Land of Narnia |publisher=Tyndale House |isbn=0-8423-8104-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/findinggodinland0000brun }}

== External links ==
* [http://www.oocities.org/athens/forum/3505/LewisJoy.html C. S. Lewis on Joy, Sehnsucht, Longing and True Myth]
* [http://www.leaderu.com/marshill/mhr08/hall1.html Joy and Sehnsucht]
* [http://www.sehnsucht-cslewis.org/index.html?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=2 Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20201109153536/http://dearyou.co.uk/2013/05/31/sehnsucht-ist-ein-schones-wort/ An English description of the word by a German native speaker]
* [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/find_titles.html?pat=Sehnsucht "Sehnsucht" song texts] at [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/ The LiederNet Archive]

=== Scores at the [[International Music Score Library Project]] ===
{{div col}}
* {{lang|de|Schubert:|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.52 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.52]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.123 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.123]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht der Liebe, D.180 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht der Liebe, D.180]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.310 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.310]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.359 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.359]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.481 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.481]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.516 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.516]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.636 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.636]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.656 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.656]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:4 Gesänge aus 'Wilhelm Meister', D.877 (Schubert, Franz)|4 Gesänge aus 'Wilhelm Meister', D.877]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, D.879 (Schubert, Franz)|Sehnsucht, D.879]]|italic=no}}
* {{lang|de|Mozart: [[scores:Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling, K.596 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)|Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling, K.596]]|italic=no}}
* {{lang|de|Beethoven:|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, WoO 134 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)|Sehnsucht, WoO 134]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:Sehnsucht, WoO 146 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)|Sehnsucht, WoO 146]]|italic=no}}
** {{lang|de|[[scores:3 Gesänge, Op.83 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)|3 Gesänge, Op.83]]|italic=no}}
* {{lang|de|Siegfried Wagner: [[scores:Sehnsucht (Wagner, Siegfried)|Sehnsucht]]|italic=no}}
{{div col end}}

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[[Category:Emotions]]
[[Category:German words and phrases]]
[[Category:Suffering]]
[[Category:Melancholia]]
[[Category:Words and phrases with no direct English translation]]
[[Category:Nostalgia]]