Words born out of feelings

Or do feelings come about to match the words we have for them?

"What super power would you want to have?"
Besides flying, which, as some scientifically-correct people spoiled by pointing out that it wouldn't really be feasible due to Fact A and Fact B, the second "super power" I always wished to have was the ability to understand every language. Back then, it was simply for the reason of knowing what others were talking about, but as of late, this "power" has filled my mind for more substantial reasons.

If you are unable to describe a feeling or emotion properly,
If you don't have the word that perfectly captures your emotions,
Does the emotion you have skew into another feeling in order to try and fit the vocabulary available to you?




I used to briefly think about these feelings that I couldn't describe, but just accepted it as a part of life, as part of the process of growing up. It wasn't until I started discovering that other languages had words that described things that had no direct translation in other languages, especially English, that  I began to feel the limitations of my language in my writing, speaking, and even my thoughts.

A few years ago, we watched Arrival, a movie about aliens landing on Earth, and a linguist's race to translate their language before a war broke out. Normally not my cup of tea, I found myself fascinated by the act of translating a new language into an existing one. I remember learning about the hieroglyphics when I was a child, and always wondered just how people were able to translate a language without a living person being able to bridge the gap.

I've been slowly making my way through a collection of books I have accumulated over the years, and one is named after a word that has no direct translation, and even has a graphic showcasing other such words. There is even one that describes why I even had this book - tsundoko - the act of buying books but never reading them.

Over the years, I've stumbled across a few words that made me pause. Whether it was the realization that I had this feeling before, experienced this situation and didn't have the capacity to describe it - or even if I had no idea this sort of universal feeling existed in some parts of the world, but were entirely foreign and difficult for me to grasp, I wrote them down just to remember them,

Here are a few that I tried to briefly explain.

Saudade (Portuguese)
An emotional state of yearning for something that has gone perhaps forever, or never existed. A melancholy, wistful feeling of nostalgia. Whatever is causing the feeling of saudade, that object, place, or person is no longer in the present. Dia da saudade (day of saudade) is January 30.

Hygge (Danish)
The book I am reading above, hygge describes the warm fuzzy feeling of something that is cozy and comfortable. This word really describes millenials and some parts of Instagram, but I rather not dive too deep there.

Fernweh (German)
Otherwise known as wanderlust, the longing for faraway places, a desire to travel to far-off places. This one is pretty straightforward, and yet there is marked difference to me from 'wanderlust'. Wanderlust seems to have taken the tone of wanting to travel when seeing these larger-than-life photos of the world, but it doesn't quite describe the feeling I have. I long to be elsewhere, to experience adventure and the way of life in a far away place, seeking the comfort of daily life in a far-off land -  exact opposite of homesickness.

한/恨 [han] (Korean)
An underlying emotional state of existence. This one is difficult for me to grasp, simply because I hadn't grown up with this history or cultural upbringing. A state of the soul, that is passed on through generations, likely stemming from the country's history of oppression by a foreign presence. The dull ache of sorrow, regret, and resentment, not actively seeking revenge, but hoping injustice will one day be eliminated.

木漏れ日 [komorebi] (Japanese)
The sunlight dappling through the trees. This is probably one of the most beautiful, and cheerful words in this list.