The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

(Published: 2019/10/25)

Today I rediscovered a blog of sorts called The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a dictionary of words that a man called John Koenig has created to describe moments and emotions that there are no words for in the English language. They are words like ambedo which is defined as:

n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—which leads to a dawning awareness of the haunting fragility of life, a mood whose only known cure is the vuvuzela.

It’s a beautiful description of a moment I certainly experience sometimes and just so perfectly worded. My friends and I (like the nerds we are) were in sensory overload reading his definitions, staring at our screens in awe. Honestly, the moments he describes are so relatable and give you a feeling of satisfaction you didn’t even know you needed. I love so many of his words and can’t define them all here, but another of my favourites is fitzcarraldo:

n. an image that somehow becomes lodged deep in your brain—maybe washed there by a dream, or smuggled inside a book, or planted during a casual conversation—which then grows into a wild and impractical vision that keeps scrambling back and forth in your head like a dog stuck in a car that’s about to arrive home, just itching for a chance to leap headlong into reality.

I need a word to describe his words. Happy sigh. I also love anemoia, degrassé, opia, moledro, chrysalism (I am really struggling to keep this list short), kairosclerosis, sonder, jouska, rubatosis, and lilo. If you’re interested in John Koenig’s work, you should check out his YouTube channel of the same name (I suggest his introduction video and Vemödalen video) and his TedX talk. According to his website, he is also in the process of creating an actual printed dictionary! I can’t wait.