La Saudade

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About La Saudade

La saudade (vocablo gallego-portugués, a su vez del latín solitudo, -inis, "soledad") es un sentimiento de melancólico recuerdo de una alegría ausente, pero cuya fuente puede retornar en el futuro previsible. El término, que expresa una emoción ambigua, se ha considerado uno de los más difíciles de traducir, y es uno de los conceptos clave de la lengua y la cultura portuguesa;

La saudade, como sustancia y palabra, siempre ha estado explícita en el dinamismo cultural. Para ejemplificar su importancia, se puede mencionar el movimiento literario - espiritual, a principios del siglo XX en Portugal, conocido como Saudosismo. Su gestación y fundamento se dio a través de la saudade y, hasta el día de hoy, mantiene una influencia significativa en la cultura de aquellos países.




Saudade has no direct English translation; its translation is dependent on context. It originates from the Latin word solitatem (loneliness, solitude), but developed a different meaning. Loneliness in Portuguese is solidão (a semi-learned word), from Latin solitudo. No other languages in the world have a word with such meaning, making saudade a distinct mark of Portuguese culture. It has been said that this, more than anything else, represents what it is to be Portuguese.

Saudade is different than nostalgia (the English word, that is). In nostalgia, one has a mixed happy and sad feeling, a memory of happiness but a sadness for its impossible return and sole existence in the past. Saudade is like nostalgia but with the hope that what is being longed for might return, even if that return is unlikely or so distant in the future to be almost of no consequence to the present. One might make a strong analogy with nostalgia as a feeling one has for a loved one who has died and saudade as a feeling one has for a loved one who has disappeared or is simply currently absent. Nostalgia is located in the past and is somewhat conformist while saudade is very present, anguishing, anxious and extends into the future. In Portuguese, the same word nostalgia has quite a different meaning.