Check out this page purporting to be a list of Words That Don’t Exist in the English Language. It’s been making the rounds for awhile, so you may have seen it. And at least portions of it have possibly been debunked. But here are a couple of examples:
Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods.
Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.
Gheegle (Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.
What concepts would be so unique to a fantasy world that they might give rise to words which are, more-or-less, untranslatable to English?
Here’s a few thoughts:
The feeling of slight nausea and dizziness that happens when you teleport somewhere.
A color that can only be created by magic.
The soul-searing, howling noise created by adamantine when it’s shattered.
The sick giddiness left in the wake of a charm or domination effect.
What would be some good words for that? What other concepts would be evocative?
The mental inversion that takes place the moment you see through the unreality of an illusion.
The sensation of being in love with someone of a different species.
The absolute certainty of knowing that can only come about through Divination magic or Divine revelation. “There’s what you believe, what you know, and then there’s what you (….) .”
The smothered panic and unease you experience when you realize your emotions/mind are being controlled, but the magic doesn’t let you consciously acknowledge it.
The descriptor for how mana feels as it pulses through your body. As “Electrifying” is to electricity.
“A color that can only be created by magic” – clearly, that’s octarine. http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Octarine
Efnord beat me to it…
Forelsket: Temporary Insanity.
Gheegle: Hellokitty-itis.
Magic Color: Greater Mauve. Not to be confused with Improved Chinese Purple.
Solepidendropathy: Feeling of being alone among the trees.
Hyperschizoadamanticacophony: Excessively horrible noise of breaking adamant.
Metacharismania: Post charm giddiness.
Metateleportalsyncopy: Post teleport dizziness.
Polymorphalgia: Polymorph pain.
(I don’t know greek.)
Re hudax:
You provide some interesting ideas, but I’m not convinced. In the case of “forelsket” and “temporary insanity”, the latter carries a clear negative connotation that may not be present in the former. Given the subject matter, that’s kinda important to the definition.
In the case of “gheegle”, the first example that occurred to me was the way my grandmother treats babies. I don’t think “hellokitty-itis” can encompass this sort of thing.
“Greater mauve” I’ll concede with the caveat that your definition is useless and “greater x” could work for any color “x”.
The rest of your examples read like technical terms. To turn the idea around, try translating “spastic” into a language that isn’t English. It’s emphatically *not* a technical term. Another example: The formation of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream following rapid pressure change has a technical name, but it’s commonly known as “the bends”. If polymorph is a common occurrence, polymorphalgia is a fine technical term for the resulting pain, but there would be a layman’s term as well. For post-teleportation disorientation, I can even propose what the layman’s term might be. Drawing from existing D&D terminology, I would call it “daze”.
Thanks for the feedback. Good point about layman’s terms.
I should have been more clear, my post was intended more as a joke than anything to be taken seriously. Hyperschizoadamanticacophony is after all a ridiculous word. However, regarding mauve, I chose that color because it was the first chemically synthesised color in the West. Same with Chinese Purple in the East.
Are you aware of the Meaning of Liff, by none other than Douglas Adams and the slightly less famous BBC’s QI creator, John Lloyd?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_liff
It appears appropriate.
The feeling after teleportation is “jump shock”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderson_drive
In addition to Octarine, which is the Color of Magic, you might include Jale, Ulfire, and Dolm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_to_Arcturus
The mental inversion that takes place the moment you see through the unreality of an illusion.
I can think of several Sanskrit words that might fit; “savikalpa” is one.
“The sensation of being in love with someone of a different species.”
“Xenophilia” is close, but not perfect.
“The absolute certainty of knowing that can only come about through Divination magic or Divine revelation. “There’s what you believe, what you know, and then there’s what you (….) .””
“Gnosis” is sometimes used this way, although it’s not entirely correct.
Hitting 2nd level, even with a training period, /knowing/ that you’re going to do better now, every time.
Being struck by a magic missile, the wound without a wound.
The look in a monsters eye that blasts your soul free from your body, or the Cleric’s accusing finger that does the same.
Dragonfear, where you’re obviously afraid anyway, but it’s somehow impossible to be brave.
Undeath, where you’ve come back but it’s all wrong, the living are the problem, so you’re going to embrace them all with blessed death.
Resurrection, where you died, passed on, watched the show, and now you’re back with more knowledge, but missing something. Similar to any reality altering effect, like where the party was dead, they had you surrounded, and then you’re back at the cave entrance again with the party, less a chunk of XP.
The creeping madness of Pandemonium, or any plane that turns you into more of that plane, permanently losing yourself to the surroundings.
The feeling of positive energy inflow from cure spells, exemplified as the moment before it pops you on the positive plain.
Upshift/downshift: The sudden shock of enhanced/reduced capacity when your ability scores are modified (most commonly used for putting on/taking off a stat-boosting item, but also sometimes used for more temporary changes from buff or debuff spells).