This time indulge yourself in all those feelings that you
failed to express just because you couldn’t find a suitable word that could
describe the feeling wholly.
Let’s indulge!
Have you ever felt a fervent desire for your homeland? Or an ardent longing for a home you can’t return to or one that was never yours but you still feel that longing for it?
Well that’s best expressed by a Welsh word ‘Hiraeth’ (pronounced [hiraɪ̯θ] ). It’s not just the feeling that we explain through the word nostalgia, but much more intense than that.
Up next is one of my favorite word and that’s ‘Gezellig’. It’s a Danish word pronounced as heh-SELL-ick. This word encompasses the heart of the Dutch culture as Dutch tend to love all things gezellig. Its meaning include everything from cozy to companionable, welcoming to comfortable, amicable to gregarious and cheerful to satisfying. It denotes the meaningful and delightful time spend with ones loved ones and family members or friends. So let me paint a picture for you; your whole family, you, mom, papa, your brother or sister and even your grandparents sitting on the comfortable sofa, the heater is on, giving you comfort while the wind outside is wintry. So there is coffee and cookies for all of you and you have got your albums out. Mom jokes about how you used to cry all times while she got hold of a photo wherein you along with your little sister, fell while ice-skating and couldn’t control your sobs. And your father gets hold of an old photograph from your parents’ wedding and remembers how he was mesmerized by your mother on their first meet and is still today. And your mother blushes. And there are smiles and there is laughter. The aroma of the atmosphere around and the feeling is too cozy to leave it all. Isn’t it?
Let’s indulge!
Have you ever felt a fervent desire for your homeland? Or an ardent longing for a home you can’t return to or one that was never yours but you still feel that longing for it?
Well that’s best expressed by a Welsh word ‘Hiraeth’ (pronounced [hiraɪ̯θ] ). It’s not just the feeling that we explain through the word nostalgia, but much more intense than that.
Up next is one of my favorite word and that’s ‘Gezellig’. It’s a Danish word pronounced as heh-SELL-ick. This word encompasses the heart of the Dutch culture as Dutch tend to love all things gezellig. Its meaning include everything from cozy to companionable, welcoming to comfortable, amicable to gregarious and cheerful to satisfying. It denotes the meaningful and delightful time spend with ones loved ones and family members or friends. So let me paint a picture for you; your whole family, you, mom, papa, your brother or sister and even your grandparents sitting on the comfortable sofa, the heater is on, giving you comfort while the wind outside is wintry. So there is coffee and cookies for all of you and you have got your albums out. Mom jokes about how you used to cry all times while she got hold of a photo wherein you along with your little sister, fell while ice-skating and couldn’t control your sobs. And your father gets hold of an old photograph from your parents’ wedding and remembers how he was mesmerized by your mother on their first meet and is still today. And your mother blushes. And there are smiles and there is laughter. The aroma of the atmosphere around and the feeling is too cozy to leave it all. Isn’t it?
Well that’s what is gezellig. Moreover, most of the times that faint picture of the coffee shop where on a wintry night all the friends are cozy in(except for the fact that Phoebe is singing) from the FRIENDS T.V. show fills my mind. Did it occur to you too?
Up next is such a delicate expression of love in Arabic language: Ya’aburnee (pronounced as yak-BER-ni). Both morbid and beautiful at the same time, it literally means ‘You bury me.’ It is a declaration of ones hope that one’s lover will die after them because of how unbearable life will be without them. Well, it may sound a bit selfish but isn’t it that everything is fair in love and war?
Another subtle expression is found in the South African word Ubuntu. But it’s not just a word for them, but a tradition that they live by. It essentially means humanity towards others. In certain regions of South Africa, when someone does something wrong, he is taken to the center of the village and surrounded by his tribe for two days while they speak of all the good he has done. They believe that each person is inherently good though sometimes one makes mistakes. They unite in this ritual to encourage the person to replenish his true nature. The belief is that unity and affirmation have more power to change behavior than shame and punishment.
Here’s just another word to end the article on a light note. It’s, Gattara, a
woman or an old lady who may be lonely or not, who devotes herself to stray
cats! She does like people, she just prefers cats! Well the first image that
came to my mind was of the old lady from Mr. Bean animated series :).
Well these were just some words from the whole sea of it out there from
different languages. The languages of varied cultures and countries are so rich
that theres a lot for a logophile.
Comment your favourite word from this list in the comment section below!
NAMASTE
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Loved the article!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the article! Will be posting some really interesting ones in a couple ofbdays!!
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