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an alveary of holophrastic words
i've kept a list over the years of my favorite words and expressions in various languages, but until now it's largely been in my head. i've finally written it down, and here it is for the collective record. (plus, i needed to make space for new words.)
please feel welcome to add your favorites to the comments ~ i'd love to hear them. as Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Austrian philosopher and logician, once said, "The limits of my language determine the limits of my world."
- alveary (English): a word-list, but also a beehive or the area of the ear where wax gathers
- aware (Japanese): the appreciation of ephemeral beauty; aware refers not to the transient thing itself, but to the certain wistful bittersweet appreciation that it engenders
- bimble (English): the act of wandering about aimlessly or walking without urgency to a destination
- boffin (British English): a Britishism for "nerd"
- déjà visité (French): the sensation of having been somewhere before
- déjà senti (French): the sensation of having felt something before
- eristic (English): both a noun and adjective, this describes someone with a fondness of arguing, as in arguing for the sake of arguing, and perhaps a talent for making believable but false statements (this is a wonderful word to use in an argument!)
- l'esprit d'escalier (French): literally "the spirit of the staircase," this is the moment when the right thing to say comes to mind, but only when it is far too late to actually say it
- fika (Swedish): a Swedish social custom of taking a coffee break with friends or coworkers
- gadabout (English): one who roams about, as in search of amusement or social activity
- geisterfahrer (German): literally a "ghost driver," or someone who drives the wrong way up an autobahn
- growlery (English): a place to go when feeling melancholy or depressed
- holophrastic (English): expressing a phrase or an entire concept in a single word
- jusqu’au boutiste (French): meaning "right to the edge," this is used to describe someone who is very brave, and maybe very stupid
- kinderfeindlichkeit (German): an intense dislike or disregard of children, this is more often used to describe an observed cultural phenomenon in Germany (rather than the attitude of an individual)
- logam (Swedish): meaning "enough, balanced, just right," this word implies perfection and expresses the national spirit of Sweden
- mamihlapinatapai (Fuegian, from Tierra del Fuego): this word describes a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that neither one wants to start (listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as "the most succinct word")
- pampiervampier (Afrikaans): literally a "paper vampire," or stapler
- presque vu (French): the sensation of being on the brink of an epiphany (usually followed by the confusion that floods in after grasping for absolute truth)
- sabi (Japanese): the patina of age, like the quality of warmth found in old, worn bricks
- sisu (Finnish): meaning "toughness, determination, the ability to get things done," this word describes the Finnish psyche
- syncretism (English): the merging of several cultures, traditions, religions, etc. that were originally separate
- solastalgia (English): a neologism used to describe the feeling of sadness ~ or even homesickness ~ caused by environmental change
- vorgestern and ubermorgen (German): respectively, "the day before yesterday," and "the day after tomorrow"
- wabi (Japanese): a flaw that gives elegance and uniqueness to the whole
- zanshin (Japanese): a relaxed alertness, like the assured, inherent state of readiness found in cats
there are, as you might imagine, entire books filled with unusual, obscure and hard to translate words, including:
- They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases, by Howard Rheingold
- Le Mot Juste: A Dictionary of Classical and Foreign Words and Phrases by John Buchanan-Brown
- The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World by Adam Jacot de Boinod
- In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World, by Christopher J. Moore and Simon Winchester
the place to go before picking up any one of those books, however, is Benjamin Zimmer's post at Language Log. several good points are made about how some words in books like Tingo and In Other Words just don't stand up to some basic research and fact-checking, and that many of the words are often unremarkable in their originating language in the first place.
~ Christefano, 21 October 2005
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Lee wrote...
Impignorate! = to mortgage.
Flocculate! = to clump together so as to be filtered. I came across this when researching pool filtration systems at the patent office for my Dad.
Maybe I can think of some more later. . .