Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Word Of The Day - Toska


Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases, it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

http://listverse.com/2011/06/17/another-10-untranslatable-words/

2 comments:

M. D. Jackson said...

And I thought is was just a three-part opera by Puccinni.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

The opera can be a gloomy place to be.