Longing in another language

July 15, 2015 7:42 PM

I know there are words in other languages for things we don't have words for in English sometimes. I am looking for a word that means something along the lines of "longing for things that one feels one is missing out on due to circumstances beyond ones control". In addition I am looking for other words that describe specific types of sadnesses or happinesses. These can be in any language.
posted by jitterbug perfume to Writing & Language (14 answers total)

It's not quite right, but the first word that popped to mind is suadade. The wiki link to that has a good list of similar sadnesses in other languages.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:56 PM on July 15, 2015

añorar - Sp. word that means remembering something / longing for something that is in the past/gone.
posted by correcaminos at 7:57 PM on July 15, 2015

Saudade. Example.
posted by zadcat at 7:57 PM on July 15, 2015

A few from Lost in Translation:

HIRAETH (Welsh)
n. A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to, the nostalgia and the grief for the lost places of your past, places that never were.

TÍMA (Icelandic)
v. Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it.

TIÁM (Farsi)
n. The twinkle in your eye when you first meet someone.

YA’ABURNEE (Arabic)
n. Meaning “you bury me” a beautifully morbid declaration of one’s hope that they will die before another person, as it would be too difficult living without them.

IKTSUARPOK (Inuit)
n. The act of repeatedly going outside to keep checking if someone (anyone) is coming.

FORELSKET (Norwegian)
n. The indescribable euphoria experienced as you begin to fall in love.

NAZ (Urdu)
n. The pride and assurance that comes from knowing you are loved unconditionally.

WALDEINSAMKEIT (German)
n. The feeling of being alone in the woods, an easy solitude and a connectedness to nature.
posted by gennessee at 8:35 PM on July 15, 2015

Sehnsucht (German) - pretty much fits your definition - inconsolable, strong drive/yearning to experience something or someone
posted by The Toad at 9:13 PM on July 15, 2015

Since saudade and Sehnsucht are already covered, here's mono no aware with the caveat that it's an awareness of the impermanence of things since attachment to things is the cause of suffering in Buddhism. Mono no aware is the sadness one has at realising that things you experience will end, not the sadness of craving stuff you don't have.
posted by sukeban at 10:51 PM on July 15, 2015

In German, there's a pair of words: Heimweh and Fernweh. Heimweh mean "homesickness." Fernweh is the opposite, and it's usually translated as "wanderlust" (also a German word, actually, now that I look at it). But Fernweh has always sounded a bit more more wistful and melancholy to me than wanderlust, because the common root weh in both Heimweh and Fernweh means "aching" or "sorrow" or "pain." So the two parts of Fernweh together literally mean something like "aching for the far away," which combined with the fact that the two parts of Heimweh mean "aching for home" means Fernweh has always sounded to me like you're longing to be somewhere else that you've never been in the same way that you long for home sometimes when you're far away.
posted by colfax at 12:18 AM on July 16, 2015

Try "DOR" in Romanian
posted by Kwadeng at 12:32 AM on July 16, 2015

Danish hjemve is the same as the German Heimweh - longing for home.

Danish udlængsel is the same as the German Fernweh - longing to go somewhere and literally translated it is "out-longing".
posted by kariebookish at 5:53 AM on July 16, 2015

FOMO is an English acronym for Fear of Missing Out.
posted by soelo at 7:31 AM on July 16, 2015

There phrases in English for the situation that may imply the longing in context:

Star crossed
Fickle finger of fate
Prisoner of circumstance
Cork on the ocean
Blown by the wind
posted by SemiSalt at 8:40 AM on July 16, 2015

Dutch: reikhalzen (to long for, literally: to stretch one's neck)
posted by monospace at 11:05 AM on July 16, 2015

그리움 (keurium) in Korean
posted by doctordrey at 11:44 AM on July 16, 2015

Both of these links fit the spirit of your question, I hope, if not the exact parameters.

I'm taken by the (very sad) term solastalgia, which, unlike nostalgia, means missing home even while you still live there, because of the extent to which it has changed, whether it be due to gentrification, war, environmental degradation, or other kinds of transformation.

Also, the dictionary of obscure sorrows, one of the most thoughtful corners of the internet, has several words that are cleverly invented but hopefully will become accepted words.
posted by umbú at 12:31 PM on July 16, 2015