The concept of the uncanny originated in German philosophy and psychology around the turn of the 18th century. The German word for it is unheimlich, which is actually closer to the English term “unhomelike.” This more literal translation of the German coinage is helpful to consider, in part because no one would call something “unhomelike” unless it was in some fashion reminiscent of the deeply familiar (no one from Cleveland, Ohio, for instance, would visit the Sahara and think to say that the view is unhomelike). In German, the term encompasses a contradiction—a simultaneous attraction and repulsion—implying that the comfort of a certain recognizable pattern also induces fear or doubt.
