news from home; letter from home
Archaic noun referring to tidings or correspondence from one's family or hometown. Not used in modern Japanese; encountered only in historical texts.
In letters from the Edo period, one can find expressions like 'I was relieved to receive news from home.'
Compound of 家 (いえ, 'home') and 言 (こと, 'word, speech'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the spelling is conventionally associated with the meaning 'news from home'.