The German adjectives heimlich and unheimlich (respectively, familiar and unfamiliar) share the same root as heimat. Other German writers refer to the German language as their heimat. Nineteenth-century German writers used heimat to speak of those good ‘ol agricultural days before the Industrial Revolution. Heimat is a place of belonging-whether physical, temporal, or cognitive-from which one derives meaning.
In heimat, everything is in order one exists in right orientation to self and others. Though typically translated as “home” or “homeland,” the original German possesses emotional nuances these words never fully replicate. There is no exact English equivalent for the German word heimat.
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home
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