I love discovering obscure or foreign words. Not necessarily so that I can use them (What is the point of using a word that nobody else can understand? It defeats the purpose!) but because I love knowing that there is a word out there to describe oh-so-familiar feelings, sensations or sights that I had thought we particular to me. There is something magical (and a little disappointing) about finding out that you are not as unique as you always thought you were.
1. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.
2. Yuputka (Ulwa)
A word made for walking in the woods at night, it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.
3. Slampadato (Italian)
Addicted to the infra-red glow of tanning salons? This word describes you.
4. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
An impractical dreamer with no business sense. Literally, air person.
5. Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
That feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet.
6. Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish)
One who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers.
7. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
To scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.
8. Gumusservi (Turkish)
Moonlight shining on water.
9. Vybafnout (Czech)
To jump out and say boo.
10. Mencolek (Indonesian)
That old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them.
11. Faamiti (Samoan)
To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child.
12. Glas wen (Welsh)
A smile that is insincere or mocking. Literally, a blue smile.
13. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
The experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.
14. Boketto (Japanese)
The act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.
15. Kummerspeck (German)
Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.
16. Phosphenes (English)
The stars and colors you see when you rub your eyes.
17. Toska (Russian)
Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
18. Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego)
"The wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start." (Altalang.com)
19. Jayus (Indonesian)
"A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh." (Altalang.com)
20. Litost (Czech)
Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, remarked that “As for the meaning of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent, though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul without it.” The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
21. Kyoikumama (Japanese)
"A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement." (Altalang.com)
22. Tartle (Scottish)
The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. (Altalang.com)
23. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Southwest Congo)
A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person “who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.” (Altalang.com)
24. Prozvonit (Czech)
This word means to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a touch.” (Altalang.com)
25. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese)
“The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.” (Altalang.com)
26. Schadenfreude (German)
Quite famous for its meaning that somehow other languages neglected to recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune.
27. Torschlusspanik (German)
Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.” (Altalang.com)
28. Wabi-Sabi (Japanese)
Much has been written on this Japanese concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.” (Altalang.com)
29. Dépaysement (French)
The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country.
30. Tingo (Pascuense, Easter Island)
Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.” (Altalang.com)
31. Hyggelig (Danish)
Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire. (Altalang.com)
32. L’appel du vide (French)
“The call of the void” is this French expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.
33. Ya’aburnee (Arabic)
Both morbid and beautiful at once, this incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
34. Duende (Spanish)
While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.” (Altalang.com)
35. Saudade (Portuguese)
One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” (Altalang.com)
"So avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do."
-- Dead Poet's Society
Definitions via Mental Floss and You Might Find Yourself.
7 comments:
This reminds me of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/). They're only made up, but some of them capture my feelings & sentiments perfectly. My personal favourites are 'wytai' & 'ellipsism'.
Number 13 and 14 are should be embedded in my life dictionary. Haha.
Thank you for that link Natalie! And Sabrina... I am 4, 14 and 22. But you are definitely not 13! xx
Hi Lura,
My favourite is number is number 28.Wabi-Sabi...what a lovely concept. x x
PS. I've been following your blogs for nearly a year now and I still love your writing :)
Oh thank you Joanne, you made my day! I wrote about wabi-sabi a little while ago... here is the link if you missed it: http://www.oneaprilmorning.net/2011/03/getting-wabi-sabi-with-it.html xx
Hey Laura,
Love this post... I stumbled across the book ´The Meaning of Tingo´a few years ago and have a read every few months or so.
Can´t believe you mentioned ´suadade´. I´ve just been travelling around Portugal where I became obsessed with something called Fado music (folk music native to Lisbon). Expressing ´saudade´ is the essential element of Fado.
You can listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YriVM8sC7M&feature=related
More info: (http://www.portugal.com/information/fado)
´The essential element of fado music is “saudade,” a Portuguese word that translates roughly as longing, or nostalgia for unrealized dreams. Fado flowers from this fatalistic world-view. It speaks of an undefined yearning that can’t be satisfied. For Portuguese emigrants fado is an expression of homesickness for the place they left behind.
Like other forms of folk music such as American blues, Argentine tango or Greek rebitika, fado cannot be explained; it must be felt and experienced. One must have the soul to transmit that feeling; a fadista who does not possess saudade is thought of as inauthentic. Audiences are very knowledgeable and very demanding. If they do not feel the fadista is up to form they will stop a performance.´
Thank you so much Nicole, I will have to research Fado some more... the concept is beautiful. I listened to the song you rec'd and it's gorgeous. Of course I cannot understand the lyrics but I can definitely feel them. xx
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