Linguistics is so fascinating.
There are things you can say in one language that you cannot literally translate with the same deepness of meaning to other languages.
Here’s a series of images representing some of those unique, beautiful, untranslatable words.
Toska
( Russian )
A sensation of deep great spiritual anguish,
a dull ache of the soul,
a longing with nothing to long for,
a vague restlessness.
Saudade
( Portuguese )
A bittersweet melancholic yearning for something beautiful that is now gone.
Komorebi
( Japanese )
The sort of scattered, dappled light effect that happens when sunlight shines in through trees.
Ya’aburnee
( Arabic )
The desire to die before another person because of how unbearable it would be to learn of their death. Lit. “You bury me”.
InSaei
(Ancient Islandic )
The sea within: the borderless nature of our inner world.
To see within: to know yourself and be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
To see from the inside out.
Lagom
( Swedish )
Not too much. Not too little. Just enough.
Nankurunaisa
( Japanese )
Let things work their way. Time will set everything right.
Fernweh
( German )
Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to. A longing for distant places.
Gökotta
( Swedish )
To wake up early in the morning with the specific purpose of going outside to hear the first birds sing.
Wabi Sabi
( Japanese )
The quality of something to be beautiful because of being imperfect in some way.
Duende
( Spanish )
Word used in the Spanish folklore to refer to the mysterious power that a person has to deeply move and inspire emotion through a work of art, music, dance or poetry.
Iktsuarpok
( Inuit )
A feeling of edgy anticipation that makes one keep on looking out of the window to see if an expected visitor is coming up the path.
SARA POZZERLE 