The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is an English word-construction project by John Koenig, seeking to coin and define neologisms for emotions not yet described in language.^[1] The project was launched as a website and YouTube channel, but was later compiled into a printed dictionary in 2021. The entries include extensive constructed etymologies based on Koenig's own research on linguistics,^[2] with roots and suffixes taken from Latin, Germanic, and Ancient Greek sources in emulation of existing English terms. The website includes verbal entries in the style of a conventional dictionary, and the YouTube channel picks some of those words and tries to express their meaning more thoroughly in the form of video essays. The book takes from those previous places, so it has both dictionary style entries and some longer essays on specific words.^[3]

Koenig's terms are often based on what was described as "feelings of existentialism"^[4] and are meant to "fill a hole in the language", often from reader contributions of specific emotions.^[5][6] Some videos involve a large number of photographs, such as the video for Vemödalen, which uses an "almost exhausting—yet seamless—fusion of 465 similar photos from different photographers". Other videos are more personal, such as Avenoir, which involves a "collage of his own home movies to piece together an exploration of life's linearity".^[7][8]

The official book for the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows was released by Simon & Schuster on November 16, 2021.^[9][10]

History

The dictionary was first considered in 2006 when Koenig was studying at Macalester College, Minnesota and attempting to write poetry. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows was the idea he came up with that would contain all the words he needed for his poetry, including emotions that had never been linguistically described.^[11] The popularity of the website and web series began to grow in June 2015 after a list of twenty-three words from the dictionary began to be shared on multiple social media sites.^[12]

Notable words

vemödalen n. the frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist—the same sunset, the same waterfall, the same curve of a hip, the same closeup of an eye—which can turn a unique subject into something hollow and pulpy and cheap, like a mass-produced piece of furniture you happen to have assembled yourself.

John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Several of the neologisms presented in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, especially those that have an accompanying video, have received attention and interest. The term vemödalen focuses on the lack of creativity within photography due to the existence of similar photographs having been taken in the past. However, the video also focuses on how it is "inevitable that the 'same' image will be captured by different individuals" while it is also correct that "just because some things seem similar, their uniqueness is not annulled".^[13][14] Using a quote from Walt Whitman, the video points out that something being unique will always be based on adding to what came before and that every photo ever made is being added to the story of photographs that all people are collaborating on.^[15]

The term sonder has been noted as well for its relation to other people, its definition meaning "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own".^[16][17] Sonder has also been appropriated by various companies for use such as the name of a bike brand^[18] and a mental therapy marketplace, Sondermind,^[19] as well as the title of a video game.^[20] The third album from indie pop artist Kaoru Ishibashi was named Sonderlust after this term from the dictionary and references the separation from his wife and his attempts to understand her life.^[21][22] Sonder is the fourth studio album by English progressive metal band TesseracT.^[9] Sonder is the second studio album by American pop-rock band The Wrecks.^[23] Sonder is the name of an American neo-soul group consisting of singer Brent Faiyaz and producers Atu and Dpat. ^[1]

Multiple words from the dictionary, such as ellipsism, énouement, and onism, were used as titles for various cocktails served at the Chicago restaurant Knife.^[24] Similarly, an art gallery exhibit for the works of Michael Sagato in Los Angeles uses words from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows to title each of his art pieces and to reference the meaning behind each piece.^[25]

Critical reception

The Times of India referred to the dictionary as a "delightful website for etymologists and wordsmiths".^[26] Sharanya Manivannan, writing for The New Indian Express, described the dictionary as a "beautiful experiment on the fine line between babble and Babel."^[27] Eley Williams, writing for The Guardian on the topic of fictional dictionaries, described Koenig's project as "by turns stirring and playful, providing lexical and linguistic plugs for the lacunae of everyday expression".^[9]

See also

• Wiktionary:Category:English terms coined by John Koenig
• Dialectology
• Language construction
  • A posteriori languages

References

1. Trowbridge, Cecily (May 1, 2015). "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Tumblr Gives Us These 7 Words That Don't Exist In The English Language But Definitely Should". Bustle. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
2. Christensen, Jake (March 23, 2015). "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows". Iowa State Daily. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
3. "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows". Tumblr. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
4. Beigelman, Victor (August 6, 2015). "Ever Wonder If There's A Word For Your Existential Thoughts? This Guy Probably Invented It". A Plus. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
5. Moss, Rachel (April 29, 2015). "Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Man Creates Language To Describe Emotions We Have No Words For". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
6. Kim, Mina (24 December 2021). "Forum From the Archives: Complex Emotions Find Names in 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows'". KQED. Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
7. Harrington, Tom (December 4, 2014). "This new webseries is for the depressed neurotic in all of us". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
8. Furlong, Josh (November 10, 2014). "Video shows photos taken by 465 different photographers of similar views". KSL. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
9. Williams, Eley (May 27, 2019). "From anemoia to zagreb: how 'fictionaries' are liberating the word". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
10. Koenig, John (16 November 2021). Amazon: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1501153648.
11. Webber, Rebecca (January 5, 2016). "Odd Emotions". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
12. Byrne, Nicola (June 25, 2015). "People are going crazy for this list of emotions people feel, but can't explain". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
13. Arici, Alexandra (November 12, 2014). "Watch: Vemödalen Is the Fear of Capturing the Same Photographs as Everybody Else". Softpedia. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
14. Dove, Jackie (December 4, 2014). "Is there any unique vision left in the world?". The Next Web. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
15. Chia, Aleena (December 2, 2014). "Vemödalen and The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows". Antenna. University of Wisconsin–Madison. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
16. "Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Sonder". Poets & Writers. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
17. Lichtenegger, Franz (July 3, 2015). "Meine Gefühle sind komisch". Vice. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
18. Orton, Matt (October 22, 2015). "Sonder: a new bike brand from British outdoors experts Alpkit". BikeRadar. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
19. Tan, Gillian (July 28, 2021). "SonderMind Reaches Unicorn Status as Mental-Health Bets Surge". www.bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
20. Benson, Julian (November 13, 2013). "Sonder has you dive from one character's head to another's trying to save the day". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
21. Rangarajan, Sahana (October 20, 2016). "Reflections on 'Sonderlust,' a talk with Kishi Bashi". The Daily Californian. Archived from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
22. Shin, Pearl (October 21, 2016). "Kishi Bashi supports young musicians at Chicago concert". University of Illinois at Chicago. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
23. "THE WRECKS Announce Sophomore Album Sonder – Out June 10 via Big Noise Music Group". R o c k 'N' L o a d. 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
24. Sula, Mike (January 11, 2017). "For a small steak house, Knife is big on showmanship". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
25. Rivera, Erica (October 14, 2016). "Artist Profile: Michael Sagato: Visualizing Obscure Sorrows". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
26. "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows". The Times of India. September 17, 2015. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
27. Manivannan, Sharanya (November 2, 2015). "Obscure Interpretations of Human Reflections". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.

Further reading

• Bartlett, Evan (March 31, 2015). "10 made-up words to describe emotions that we should all start using immediately". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
• Livni, Ephrat (October 25, 2016). "Opia, sonder, liberosis: The dictionary for all the emotions you feel, but can't express". Quartz. Retrieved January 18, 2017.

External links

• Official website
• The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows on YouTube