Chora con gran soèdade
Este mens olhos cativo
— Cantigas de Santa Maria, XIIIth century
“My eyes are imprisoned/ Weeping with great longing”. Soèdade (saudade) — “longing” or “yearning” — is a Portuguese word that does not have a precise translation in English.
It has been described as a “…vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist…”