Music that evokes nostalgia, or songs whose lyrics revolve around themes of nostalgia. The term nostalgia describes a longing for the past, often in idealized form. The word is made up of two roots (νόστος nostos "returning home", and άλγος algos "pain") to refer to "the pain a sick person feels because he wishes to return to his native home, and fears never to see it again". It was described as a medical condition, a form of melancholy, in the Early Modern period, and came to be an important topic in Romanticism. This can be seen in a methodological manner.