That which is foreign will be made known to you.

In his essay “The Uncanny” (“Das Unheimliche,” 1919) Freud states that the uncanny is frightening because it leads back to that which is already known and familiar. He suggests initially that one may be tempted to conclude that the uncanny is frightening precisely because it represents something that is not familiar, but he follows to argue just the opposite by examining the etymology of the German heimlich (homely/domestic) and its putative antonym unheimlich. While the former signifies a sense of intimacy and familiarity, presenting the domestic sphere as a place free of ghostly influences—and yet a place hidden or withheld—the latter denotes the presence of something foreign or peripheral. One discovers a discrete ambiguity in the meanings of the two words as one “uncannily” fills the other’s space and embodies those attendant implications, thus the distinctions of the two words are blurred, and meaning becomes ultimately transferable.