Vorfreude (German, pronounced FOR-froy-duh) means joyful anticipation: the pleasure of looking forward to something before it happens. It is a feminine noun built from vor- (“before”) and Freude (“joy”).
Origin
Wiktionary gives the etymology as vor- + Freude, the gender as feminine and the IPA as /ˈfoːa̯fʁɔɪ̯də/. The Duden, Germany’s standard dictionary, defines it as “Freude auf etwas Kommendes, zu Erwartendes” (joy about something to come or something expected). Duden also records the saying “Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude”, roughly “anticipation is the best kind of joy.”
How It’s Used
In German, Vorfreude usually takes auf (on/for): die Vorfreude auf ein Fest (anticipation of a party), Duden’s own example. Typical uses:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Vorfreude auf ein Fest | looking forward to a party |
| Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude. | Anticipation is the best kind of joy. |
On social media #Vorfreude tags countdowns: trip bookings, concert tickets, holiday preparations and the run-up to Christmas, when the #AdventCalendar is the season’s built-in Vorfreude device. It sits alongside other borrowed feeling-words such as #Fernweh, #Gemütlichkeit and #Schadenfreude.
What the Research Says
| Study | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Van Boven & Ashworth, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2007) | Title states the result: “Anticipation is more evocative than retrospection,” meaning emotions felt looking forward are more intense than those felt looking back. | University of Colorado record |
| Nawijn, Marchand, Veenhoven & Vingerhoets, Applied Research in Quality of Life (2010) | Of 1,530 Dutch adults (974 took a vacation), those planning a vacation were happier than those not going away; after the trip there was no difference. | ScienceDaily; World Database of Happiness |
| Kumar, Killingsworth & Gilovich, Psychological Science (2014) | People anticipating experiential purchases “have higher levels of happiness than those who anticipate spending money on things.” | Cornell Chronicle |
In the Dutch study the happiness gap between vacationers and stay-at-homes appeared before the trip and was gone after it, which is the effect the proverb describes.
Sources
- https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Vorfreude
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Vorfreude
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218125204.htm
- https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/publications/vacationers-happier-but-most-not-happier-after-a-holiday-6266/
- https://vivo.colorado.edu/display/pubid_86428
- https://news.cornell.edu/node/283533