A longing for far-off places, an ache for distance itself, as if the horizon were a summons rather than a line. Where wanderlust can sound cheerful, fernweh often carries a sweeter pain: homesickness turned inside out, pointed toward elsewhere.

Borrowed from German Fernweh, literally “far-sickness,” formed on the model of Heimweh “homesickness” (fern “far” + Weh “pain, woe”). The coinage is modern, but the feeling is old: restlessness given a diagnostic name.