wanderlust -> τὸ φιλαπόδημον

[purplechocoholic]

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Hello all,

I've had the travel bug since I was a child and for my first tattoo I'd love to get a greek word or phrase that commemorates the idea of "wanderlust", or (someone having) a strong desire for/impulse to wander, travel, and/or explore the world.

Is μανία ταξίδιων the correct phrase?

Thanks for the help!

[billberg23]

Μανία ταξίδιων might be all right for modern Greek, but since you posted here in the ancient Greek forum, we assume you want ancient Greek instead.  (Internet machine translators can't produce ancient Greek.)
The noun you're looking for would probably be φιλαποδημία, from the adjective φιλαπόδημος, "fond of travelling," which is attested earliest in Xenophon, Historia Graeca 4.3.2.

[purplechocoholic]

Thanks billberg23 for the speedy reply!

What exactly does φιλαποδημία translate to (as a noun)? Not just the literal meaning, but if there's a metaphorical meaning too.

Can the adjective φιλαπόδημος refer to (someone who is) "fond of traveling", or does it just describe the fondness one feels towards the idea of traveling?

Would you also write both words out in uppercase font?

[billberg23]

Let's forget about φιλαποδημία, which is not attested in any extant Greek text, though it would be a normal and natural noun formation from φιλαπόδημος.  Besides, I've found the expression τὸ φιλαπόδημον (literally "the travel-loving thing") in the Suda, which derives the noun from the adjective just as well.
So you'd be better off using the adjective φιλαπόδημος to describe yourself in the tattoo, Purple C.  Its normal and literal meanings are the same ("travel-loving") from the 4th cent. BCE to the 12th cent. CE, with no apparent metaphorical sense (though I suppose that's always a possibility, if you want to make it so).  Etymologically, it refers to "being away," "being out of town," but its sense is always in reference to the lure of new and different places.

[purplechocoholic]

Thanks again billberg23!

Could you please write out φιλαπόδημος in uppercase font? And can it be used as a feminine adjective, describing a "travel-loving" female?

Also, would you mind expounding on the definition and context of the expression τὸ φιλαπόδημον (as you said, "the travel-loving thing"): can it also be used as a feminine noun, or is it neuter/masculine?

[billberg23]

Could you please write out φιλαπόδημος in uppercase font?

Sorry I forgot to do this.  It's ΦΙΛΑΠΟΔΗΜΟΣ, and, like all compound adjectives in Greek, it can be used as either a masculine or a feminine adjective, without changing its inflection.
The Suda (the monumental Byzantine lexicon) reports (iota.564.13) that Hippocrates was often portrayed as having his outer garment pulled up over his head, "either because of his love of travel (διὰ τὸ φιλαπόδημον) or because it was customary in his surgery."  Tὸ φιλαπόδημον is a neuter noun.