Tag: Fernweh

About Millers, and Hiking, and Singing

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“Wanderlust” is originally a German word and the meaning is slightly different in the German language: it includes the yearning to go and see foreign lands but has more to do with “itchy feet” – because “wandern” means “hiking” in the sense of “on shanks’ mare”. Germans used to go hiking into the big wide world and sang while doing it.

Probably the most well-known song of this genre is: “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” (hiking is the miller’s delight). Most Germans will think it is a folk song and describes a miller by profession hence it is mostly illustrated with windmills and watermills. In truth, it was written in 1820 by Wilhelm Müller (that would be William Miller), a German author.

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Wanderlust

If only I could journey …

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Graf Hermann von Pückler-Muskau is credited with having coined the term meaning the sickening for far away places. He travelled extensively in the first part of the 18th century and used the term in his letters and travelogues. But the sentiment grew out of the times – the late Romantic era manifested probably best by the German poet Joseph von Eichendorff.

Although Eichendorff did not use the word, his poem Sehnsucht (Yearning or Longing) is the embodiment of the concept:

 Yearning
    The stars were shining with golden light
    As I stood alone by the window
    And listened to the distant sound    
    Of the posthorn in the still countryside.
    My heart became inflamed in my body,
    And I thought secretly to myself:
    Ah, if only I could journey with them
    Into that magnificent summer night!

Sehnsucht
    Es schienen so golden die Sterne,
    Am Fenster ich einsam stand
    Und hörte aus weiter Ferne
    Ein Posthorn im stillen Land.
    Das Herz mir im Leibe entbrennte,
    Da hab ich mir heimlich gedacht:
    Ach, wer da mitreisen könnte
    In der prächtigen Sommernacht.

Linked to the Ragtag Daily Prompt: Fernweh.