Say What?

Words and Phrases for Untranslatable Emotions

It started with a new box of cards named aptly: The Box of Emotions. I purchased it on a whim thinking it would help with facilitating a workshop I’m putting together for writers. We can all use some help identifying and expanding on emotions, right? The emotions included were mostly familiar (though many with a twist I appreciated!) but there was a handful I hadn’t heard of before. Words from cultures I’d never heard of. Words that described emotions that I hadn’t thought were able to be described.

As someone who has a deep love and affinity for words, this new revelation both thrilled and saddened me. How had I not known about this other side to language? I decided to investigate.

What I found kept me up for many nights. I read articles and journal studies. I read op-ed pieces and short stories. I read poetry. I found myself floating in the world of language. Where time stood still and all that was important were the words and their meanings.

I came out of my word coma only to realize that I’d successfully done what I set out to do: discover a way to bring emotions and language into the process for my workshop.

Armed with an incredibly robust set of resources, I set out to write the “emotions” part of my curriculum. As I’m prone to want to share anything and everything I learn, I figured that my students shouldn’t be the only ones who reap the benefit of this knowledge. I wondered, what could bringing these words to light mean for others who aren’t aware they exist? This is my experiment. You, dear reader, are my guinea pig.

What follows is a very small list of words and/or phrases and their cultural counterpart within certain themes. Keep in mind that some of these words are extremely sacred and holy to the cultures they come from. Also, keep in mind that what you think you know about language is only the tip of the iceberg. You can always learn more. I cannot take credit for finding these words or the etymology. Dr. Tim Lomas is the man behind researching “untranslatable” words related to wellbeing and the creator of The Positive Lexicography. You can find many more words within that database. Some also come from The Box of Emotions mentioned earlier. 

Imagine choosing any one of these words/phrases as a springboard for a new story, poem, or creative project instead of the basic and plain word for its counterpart. For example, I think the concept of love is only mildly interesting, but someone who says Janid mernem about their lover? Now, that’s a story I want to write. 

Love

Janid mernem [Armenian] — ‘Let me die for/on your body’; I love you profoundly; I care for you intensely.

Onsra [Boro] — To love for the last time; the feeling that love won’t last.

Tabanca [Creole] — Love-sickness (e.g., after being left by a person you’re in love with).

Coup de foudre [French] — A ‘lightning bolt’, sudden and powerful love at first sight.

A chuisle [Gaelic] — My pulse; my beloved, my darling. Someone who is so close and loved they are like your pulse. A chuisle is used when speaking directly to them; mo chuisle is used when referring to them.

Agapé [Greek] — Selfless, unconditional, devotional love.

Koi no yokan [Japanese] — The feeling on meeting someone that falling in love will be inevitable.

Compassion

Gunnen [Dutch] — To think that someone deserves something (good); to feel happy for them getting it.

Fago [Ifaluk]- The blurring of compassion, sadness and love. It is compassion felt for those in need, which compels us to care about them, but it is also haunted by the sense that one day we will lose them.

Firgun [Hebrew] — Ungrudging and overt (expressed) pride and happiness at other’s successes.

Karuṇā [Sanskrit] — Empathy, compassion, identifying with the other’s suffering.

Utang na loob [Tagalog] — A debt of one’s inner self; an unpayable debt of gratitude; being in receipt of a blessing or favour so great it can’t be returned.

Ubuntu [Zulu/Xhosa] — Being kind to others on account of one’s common humanity.

Appreciation

Enkelt [Danish] — Beauty through simplicity

Brabbag [Gaelic (Manx)] — The act (and enjoyment) of warming the back of one’s legs in front of the fire.

Beschaulich [German] — Quiet, pensive; living a simple life; pleasantly contemplative, unhurried in a fashion that inspires mental well-being.

Gringagog [Old English] — Someone who is always grinning

Njuta [Swedish] — To deeply enjoy, to profoundly appreciate.

Sabsung [Thai] — Being revitalized through something that livens up one’s life.

Joy

Bazodee [Creole] — Euphoric confusion; dizzy/dazed happiness.

Béatitude [French] — Supreme happiness; a state of blessedness.

Iduni [Yoruba] — Intense, absolute, indescribable joy

Passion

Oplodňovák [Czech] — A slow, erotic dance; the word itself relates to impregnation.

Tesão [Portuguese] — Heightened sexual or sensual desire; turn-on; intense arousal.

Duende [Spanish] — A heightened state of emotion, spirit and passion (often associated with art/dance).

Contentment

Kǔ qù gān lái [Chinese] — Go from pain, come towards sweetness. Happiness or relief after going through trying times.

Elmosolyodni [Hungarian] — A micro-smile; the beginning of a full smile

Longing

Fernweh [German] — The ‘call of faraway places,’ homesickness for the unknown.

Dor [Romanian] — ‘I want you’; intense, bittersweet longing for a person, place or time

Saudade [Portuguese] — A melancholic yearning for someone, or something, which is far away or lost.

Misc

Dépaysement [French] — Decountrification; Disorientation; Giddiness at the newness.

Eilkrankheit [German] — ‘Hurry sickness’; a behavior pattern characterized by continual rushing and anxiousness; an overwhelming and continual sense of urgency

L’Appel du Vide [French] — ‘The call of the void’; the mystery of the mind and the unnerving instability of our emotions.

Mono No Aware [Japanese] — The sorrow and serenity that come with recognizing the inevitability of change’ the anticipatory grief of losses to come.

Ilinix [French] — ‘Voluptuous panic’; sensation of spinning, falling, and losing control; thrill of unexpected chaos.

Litost [Czech] — Shame, resentment and fury. ‘A state of torment caused by the sudden sight of one’s own misery… then the desire for revenge.’

Schadenfreude [German] — The unexpected thrill at another’s misfortune.

Żal [Polish] — Melancholy felt at irretrievable loss.

Acedia [Greek] — A state of listlessness or torpor; a spiritual state of listlessness

Uffda, oofta, huffda [Norwegian] — An expression covering a range of feelings, including surprise, astonishment, weariness, dismay, and relief.

Desasosiego [Spanish] — Unrest; unease; anxiety; a state where one cannot find solace in body and mind; emptiness, unrest, discomfort, longing and desire all in one.

Amae [Japanese] — The feeling of pleasurable dependence on another person