trouvaille

French (n.) something lovely discovered by chance; a windfall

(with thanks to other-wordly)

A word that does not exist in the English language:

Ya’aburnee

Arabic – this incantatory word means “You bury me”, a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

(Source: emeraldscales, via journalofanobody)

is an Icelandic word which describes someone who is secretly a poet. It literally means “drawer poet”, someone who writes poetry but puts it all into a desk drawer instead of sharing it with other people. 

(with thanks to icelandiclanguage)

represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience.

Asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes—”if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”

(with thanks to rabbit-light)

by Stacey Tran

ch’izh — (Navajo) the rustling of dry leaves

A thicket of birds frightened in the night, but then what of the wings? Tongues by day wrestle with the dry leaves each are left with to digress into verse; bustling, fussing, prattling; the skin moves about in fine linens, there is the skin beneath, much less calm than what appears; a softer crashing; a gathering of fragments of last season’s writhings the wind will carry off and make disappear; the clattering of armor shed at last.

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Malinke: Love

A person or a thing that one loves is called “kenifé”. The word is used by the ethnic group Malinké who originate from the Ivory Coast, West Africa.

“Keni” means “Love” or “deep friendship” and “fé” is the person or the thing that one loves.

(from The most beautiful ABC of the world, selected by a German jury in 2007, the winner was Yakamoz)

“Don’t lose heart”

A beautiful word/phrase, in both Japanese and English… also the title of Toyo Shibata’s poetry anthology, learnt from this article

All thanks to puddlenotes

“Lately I have been feeling hulihudu. And everything around me seemed to be heimongmong. These were words I had never thought about in English terms. I suppose the closest in meaning would be “confused” and “dark fog.”
But really, the words mean much more than that. Maybe they can’t be easily translated because they refer to a sensation that only Chinese people have, as if you were falling headfirst through Old Mr. Chou’s (Mr. Sandman’s) door, then trying to find your way back. But you’re so scared you can’t open your eyes, so you get on your hands and knees and grope in the dark, listening for voices to tell you which way to go.
I had been talking to too may people… to each person I told a different story. Yet each version was true, I was certain of it, at least at the moment I told it.”

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan