vzpomínek

Vzpomínky is a Czech term referring to memories or recollections of past events, whether personal experiences or broader cultural memory. The base noun is vzpomínka (memory; remembrance); its nominative plural is vzpomínky and its genitive plural is vzpomínek. The form vzpomínek is used after numerals and quantifiers (deset vzpomínek, mnoho vzpomínek) and in phrases where the noun is in the genitive case.

Etymology and form: The word vzpomínka derives from the verb vzpomínat, meaning to remember. The noun vzpomínka is a nominalized form expressing the act or result of remembering.

Meaning and usage: In everyday language, vzpomínky refer to personal reminiscences of past experiences, such as moments from childhood or times with family and friends. More broadly, they can denote cultural or historical memory shared by a group, community, or nation. In psychology, memory is a cognitive process involving encoding, storage, and retrieval; vzpomínky often involve episodic memory for specific events and can be influenced by nostalgia, selective recall, and bias.

Literature and culture: The term is common in memoirs and reminiscences, both as a literary genre and in ordinary speech. It also features in discussions of collective memory, heritage, and historical commemoration.

See also: Nostalgia, memoir, autobiographical memory, collective memory, memory (cognitive).