, a quite difficult concept to translate. It means sadness but in a nostalgic or melancholy sense (the longing for something gone or lost, possibly for good) but also carrying some hope for the future, to the point that you almost enjoy the sadness. A 17th century Portuguese writer defined it as “the good that you suffer and the pain that you enjoy.”

This concept has been ingrained in Portuguese culture since the foundation of the country (the first written references appear in the 12th century) and it matched perfectly with the feeling of watching the loved ones leave for distant lands or, for those who depart, leave the homeland behind, that was so fundamental to the age of discovery that the Portuguese explorers kicked off in the 15th century. It’s been a common theme in Portuguese literature, often explicitly, to the point that in the early 20th a major cultural movement called Saudosismo was created around the concept.

So, fairly or not, many Portuguese do revel in their own feelings of sadness and this probably leaks into some of the surveys that are used to assess the country’s happiness ranking.

[1] Galicians have a similar concept, called morriña, which is like saudade on steroids. Or rather on Zoloft, since it sometimes reaches almost depressive levels.