Do you know what the word Vellichor mean?
Well, I too never knew, until I chanced upon this word . Apparently it means-the strange wistfulness of used bookstores.
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, by John Koenig, is an ongoing collection of invented words, each representing an attempt to find a word to fit a concept for which our vocabulary is currently lacking. Vellichor is one such word, and Koenig’s site has hundreds of others, such as zenosyne (the sense that time keeps going faster), liberosis (the desire to care less about things), and sonder (the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own).
These words are obviously not "real" words, at least not in the sense that many people think of words are being real; they are intentional creations. However, something peculiar has been happening to some of Koenig’s words: they are now cropping up in online lists of words that people particularly enjoy, and are so inching toward some sort of realness. Some purists might well say that this doesn’t make them any more real, and that they still are just made-up. This is obviously true, but what is also obviously true is that sometimes this is how a word enters the language.
Now, I have a mind to create new words; why words, I can create a new language by myself and spread it through the internet.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/internets-favorite-words/vellichor
Well, I too never knew, until I chanced upon this word . Apparently it means-the strange wistfulness of used bookstores.
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, by John Koenig, is an ongoing collection of invented words, each representing an attempt to find a word to fit a concept for which our vocabulary is currently lacking. Vellichor is one such word, and Koenig’s site has hundreds of others, such as zenosyne (the sense that time keeps going faster), liberosis (the desire to care less about things), and sonder (the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own).
These words are obviously not "real" words, at least not in the sense that many people think of words are being real; they are intentional creations. However, something peculiar has been happening to some of Koenig’s words: they are now cropping up in online lists of words that people particularly enjoy, and are so inching toward some sort of realness. Some purists might well say that this doesn’t make them any more real, and that they still are just made-up. This is obviously true, but what is also obviously true is that sometimes this is how a word enters the language.
Now, I have a mind to create new words; why words, I can create a new language by myself and spread it through the internet.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/internets-favorite-words/vellichor
No comments:
Post a Comment