In general, I enjoy words and I take pleasure in adding new ones to my vocabulary. After all, words are just another medium for painting pictures and articulating thoughts.
There are certain words that don't just give you a name for something, they give you access to a concept that would otherwise be really hard to understand, or even talk about. I first spent time with this idea when I heard the Radiolab episode, New Words, New World.
Now consider how some words are unique to a specific language without a direct one-to-one translation. This takes the idea to another level. Is it possible to think differently in different languages? I think so.
Of course my insight as an English-only speaker is limited. However, I know that the ability to describe a complex idea simply with the confidence that you’ll be understood is powerful. Applying this idea to shared collective experiences and nuanced emotions is particularly compelling.
These are just a handful of examples that have captured the imaginations of English speakers:
“Hygge” - The cozy, intimate feeling of gathering with friends around a fire in the winter. (Danish)
“Schadenfreude” - The joy you feel at another person’s misfortune. (German)
“Saudade” - a pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy. (Portuguese)
With these kinds of thoughts on my mind, I asked my bi-lingual co-worker to tell me a Russian word that could describe something in one word that would take several in English. She humored me and that is how I discovered that a netted string bag is called an Avoska in Russian.
It’s my understanding that the root of the word avos’ means “maybe” in Russian. And that in the historical context of the USSR, there was quite a lot of uncertainty about whether there’d even be anything available to take home in your bag.
Now I not only had a new word, but a better sense of context and history for an object that I had formerly only known as a cute, trendy, produce bag.
Do you have a favorite word that articulates a bigger concept?