This morning I find myself inspired once again by the writing of Elif Shafak on your new substack, this time with a post called: “The Wisdom of ‘Untranslatable Words“, which I will come to in a moment.
First, I simply love untranslatable words, by which I mean both words that have meanings that cannot readily be simplified in definition, and also words from other languages that don’t translate well into other languages (such as my native tongue of English). I’ve written over and over about such words, a short sample list for you to click on if you are having a quiet Saturday morning (if you read this when it is published) :
- Shibui, in “Making a quiet space in my home“
- Wabi Sabi, in “Notning is finished“
If you like those, go to “Beautiful words bring dimensions of meaning“, which has eleven words (and associated blog post links).
One more, Saudade, a Portuguese word (see post here) about a deep feeling of longing, and is absolutely untranslatable.
Now, to Elif’s piece. She mentions several words from multiple languages, starting with duende, a Spanish word that, she notes, Nick Cave says is “the sadness that resides in the heart” and something that all love songs must possess.
Elif is from Turkey originally, and my limited understanding of the Turkish language is that it has as many words for love (even more than the ancient Greeks, who had at least seven) as Inuits have for snow (seventeen?). English only has one word for love, and as a romantic and an idealist, I wish it had more to help us express how we feel in English.
I find a deep sense of wonder and gratitude in richly untranslatable words, I hope you enjoy browsing and absorbing some of those I (and Elif) have shared with you today.