望郷 (bōkyō: homesickness; nostalgia) to look afar + hometown
You may associate 望 (BŌ, MŌ, nozo(mu)) with words such as 望み (nozomi: wish, desire) and 失望 (shitsubō (suru): to be disappointed, lose hope, to lose + hope). In those cases, 望 means “hope, wish, desire.”
But Halpern delineates a group of words in which 望 means “to look afar, gaze into the distance, command a view of.” Some examples:
望遠鏡 (bōenkyō: telescope)
to look afar + distant + -scope
眺望 (chōbō: view, prospect, outlook)
to look out over + to command a view of
望見 (bōken: watching from afar) to look afar + to see
展望 (tenbō: having a view of)
to take an extensive view of + to look afar
Henshall offers insights into this second group of meanings. The character 望 once showed a person on the ground, gazing at the moon. Now all the shapes have changed, except 月, “moon.” Anyway, staring at the moon came to mean both “wishful thinking” and “gazing.” Neat!
