GC: n
S: BHC – https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/empty-nest-syndrome (last access: 7 December 2024); CC – https://health.clevelandclinic.org/empty-nest-syndrome (last access: 7 December 2024).
N: 1. – empty (adj): c. 1200, from Old English æmettig, of persons, “at leisure, not occupied; unmarried” (senses now obsolete), also, of receptacles, “containing nothing,” of places, “unoccupied,” from æmetta “leisure.”
Watkins explains it as from Proto-Germanic *e-mot-ja-, with a prefix of uncertain meaning + Germanic *mot- “ability, leisure,” possibly from PIE root *med- “take appropriate measures.” A sense evolution from “at leisure” to “containing nothing, unoccupied” is found in several languages, such as Modern Greek adeios “empty,” originally “freedom from fear,” from deios “fear.” “The adj. adeios must have been applied first to persons who enjoyed freedom from duties, leisure, and so were unoccupied, whence it was extended to objects that were unoccupied” [Buck].
The -p- is a euphonic insertion. Of words, etc., “destitute of force or effect,” mid-14c. Related: Emptier. The figurative sense of empty-nester is attested by 1960.
– nest (n): “structure built by a bird or domestic fowl for the insulation and rearing of its young,” Old English nest “bird’s nest; snug retreat,” also “young bird, brood,” from Proto-Germanic *nistaz (source also of Middle Low German, Middle Dutch nest, German Nest; not found in Scandinavian or Gothic), from PIE *nizdo- (source also of Sanskrit nidah “resting place, nest,” Latin nidus “nest,” Old Church Slavonic gnezdo, Old Irish net, Welsh nyth, Breton nez “nest”), probably from *ni “down” + from PIE root *sed- (1) “to sit.”
From c. 1200 of an animal or insect. Used since Middle English in reference to various accumulations of things, especially of diminishing sizes, each fitting within the next (such as a nest of drawers, early 18c.). Nest egg “retirement savings” is from 1700; it was originally “a real or artificial egg left in a nest to induce the hen to go on laying there” (nest ei, early 14c.), hence “something laid up as the beginning of a continued growth.”
– syndrome (n): “a number of symptoms occurring together,” 1540s, from medical Latin, from Greek syndrome “concurrence of symptoms, concourse of people,” from syndromos “place where several roads meet,” literally “a running together,” from syn- “with” + dromos “a running, course”. Psychological sense is from 1955.
2. First introduced in 1914 by writer Dorothy Canfield, the concept of “empty nest syndrome” was clinically identified and popularized in the 1970s as a group of symptoms including depression, loneliness, and low self‐esteem, found among mothers whose last child had recently moved out of the family home. A great deal of sociological research since then has sought to find out how the “empty nest” relates to mothers’ (and to a lesser extent fathers’) well‐being, and how other circumstances such as being employed outside the home may influence the experience.
The term “empty nest” evokes different images depending on whether one is a sociologist, psychologist, therapist, parent, or even a realtor or travel agent. For sociologists, the “empty nest” is a household composed of adults whose children have moved out, but who have not yet reached old age themselves. Several trends have contributed to the emergence of this household type in the United States in the last 50 years, including greater…
3. Social Organization: empty nest syndrome.
- A depressed state felt by some parents after their children have left home.
4. Cultural interrelation: We can mention, among many others, the movies Room (2015) by Lenny Abrahamson, and Lady Bird (2017) by Greta Gerwig.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=empty+nest+syndrome (last access: 7 December 2024). 2. Springer – https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-0-387-33754-8_156 (last access: 7 December 2024). 3. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=empty+nest+syndrome&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 7 December 2024). 4. IMDb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3170832/, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/ (last access: 7 December 2024).
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CR: syndrome
