I just read the most brilliant article regarding words so wonderful and rich in texture, yet almost impossible to translate. Here are a few poignant and crazily beautiful examples: Saudade – 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.” — Portuguese Mamihlapinatapei – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” — Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) Cafuné – “The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.” — Brazilian Portuguese Litost – 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. — Czech Wabi-Sabi – 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.” — Japanese Dépaysement – The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country. — French Ya’aburnee – 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. — Arabic Duende - 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.” — Spanish Toska (a personal favourite) - 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.” —Russian Human language, an essentially primitive form of communication can be, and most definitely is, utterly exquisite.
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