The origins
The most likely etymology is of Latin origin, from solitate, which gave rise to soidade – a word still in use in Galician – which in turn became saudade by analogy with saúde (health); there may have been a process of literary elaboration and consolidation of the term. In Galician, saudade means "the deep feeling of loss or utter nostalgia of something lived in the past, considered to be desirable.
The word "saudade" appears for the first time in Cancioneiro da Vaticana, a collection dating back to the 13th century that comprises over one thousand songs of Galician-Portuguese minstrels who performed for kings, noblemen or the people. The word meant the suffering caused by the absence of a loved one.
King D. Duarte, the Philosopher King (1391 - 1438) claimed that the word "saudade" only existed in Portuguese and that it belonged to the heart. It was the longing for the beloved one who was no longer there.
A chronicle book written by Júlio Dantas, Abelhas Doiradas, published in 1925, gives us a lesson about this word, so cherished by people in love or by the poets. One of the best chronicles of the book is called "A Saudade": "a word that seems to sing, to palpitate and to weep".
Álvaro de Campos, one of the heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa, on his "Maritime Ode", beautifully defined the word: "toda a saudade é um cais de pedra", meaning "every "saudade" is a stone quay", alluding to the Portuguese Discoveries and the longing for the lost greatness of the Portuguese empire.
"Saudade" stands for a certain kind of nostalgia, a longing for something or someone that will never come back. A permanent feeling of emptiness. The past becomes a place of (be)longing.
Other relatives of "saudade"
Regardless of how disappointing it may be for the Portuguese-speaking world, there are very close relatives of the word "saudade" in other languages, namely: "saudade" in Galician; "dor" in Rumanian; "stesk" in Czech; "natzukashii" in Japanese; "añoranza" in Spanish; "Sehnsucht" in German; "inanguôró" in the native Guaná or Chané language; söknudur" in Icelandic; "enyorança" in Catalan; "hanîn" in Arabic or "hiraeth" in Welsh.
