5 untranslatable emotions into Italian recognized by psychology that we all feel: from Saudade to Pronoia

There are emotions that science can measure and others that can only be felt; some have a precise name, others remain untranslatable, suspended between language and culture. Some words, such as saudade, are now part of psychological literature; others are neologisms which, without claiming to become the subject of science, can boast the fact of having been proven at least once in a lifetime.

The anthropologist Catherine Lutz, in “The anthropology of Emotions” (1986), wrote that emotional language is a grammar of sensitivity. In fact, each language has a small vocabulary to describe emotions; what in Italian we call sadness or nostalgia, in other countries can be divided into ten different terms, each with its own affective intensity, its own context and its own meaning. The world’s cultures have built a surprisingly diverse emotional lexicon, reflecting not only what people feel, but how they learn to perceive, interpret, and name it. Anthropologists have known this for a long time: emotion is not only biological, but also socially defined. The linguist Anna Wierzbicka, in “Emotions across Languages ​​and Cultures” (1999), showed how many terms referring to emotional states do not have perfect equivalents to translate into all languages, not due to linguistic poverty, but because they are deeply intertwined with the specific cultural visions from which they arise. In short, univocally defining what an emotion is is extremely complex, because the concept itself contains scientific, linguistic and even cultural aspects. Psychology and neuroscience study the emotional state based on precise empirical bases; anthropology conceives it as a cultural product linked to social interpretation and linguistics underlines its terminological variety. Regardless of definitions, perhaps an emotion remains something that is felt, even when it cannot be explained. For purely simplifying purposes, we could distinguish between those with psychological and neuropsychological value (that can be studied scientifically) and those that are culturally or poetically untranslatable, which, even without empirical proof, describe profoundly human experiences.

5 emotions with psychological value

In psychology, an emotion is considered “valid” when it is recognizable and replicable in multiple individuals and has a physiological, cognitive and behavioral correlate: that is, when it is not just a linguistic or philosophical concept, but an experience that can be studied scientifically. Some “untranslatable” emotions have now fully entered the psychological and neuroscientific literature, because they are linked to universal dynamics.

Here are five of the most interesting emotions.

Saudade

It is a mixture of nostalgia, love and melancholy for someone who is no longer with us, but who lives on in our memory. Cultural psychology studies describe it as a complex form of affective nostalgia, in which loss is intertwined with gratitude for having experienced something beautiful. This word of Portuguese origin is associated not only with sadness but also with a positive emotional memory. In some senses, saudade is a kind of nostalgic, affective memory of a special good that is absent, accompanied by a desire or expectation of reliving it.

Amae

It is a word of Japanese origin and means “to behave like a spoiled child”. However, the negative connotation disappears: having the need to abandon oneself emotionally to someone represents a return to childhood, to being nourished and cuddled by others. It can be defined as “the pleasure of being looked after” without giving anything in return. It is an emotion recognized in cross-cultural psychoanalysis and reflects a healthy balance between autonomy and the need for others.

Schadenfreude

German word that literally translates into “joy of harm” and indicates the pleasure felt for the misfortune or failure of others. Numerous social psychology and neuroscience studies have observed that this emotion activates brain areas linked to the reward system (the same one that is activated when we do something that we consider satisfying). It is a morally ambiguous, but universal emotion, linked to social comparison and a sense of justice.

Call du vide

“Call of the void,” in French, is the thought or impulse to throw oneself from a great height, to throw oneself onto train tracks, or to turn the steering wheel towards a precipice or an obstacle. In psychology it is also called “High Place Phenomenon” because it mostly happens in elevated places, but in general it is the sudden and involuntary thought of self-destructive behavior. It is not, as one might think, a suicidal instinct, but it is a paradoxical sensation related to wanting to reaffirm the survival instinct, remembering that one must not always trust one’s impulses.

Pronoia

It’s the opposite of paranoia; today it is studied in positive psychology as a manifestation of optimism and generalized trust. It’s that feeling we get when we believe we have destiny in our favor, that everything is turning in the right direction thanks also to the protection of entities external to us.

The emotions not validated by science that we feel at least once in our lives

In her book “The book of human emotions” (2015), the historian of emotions Tiffany Watt Smith collects 156 emotions from every era and culture: from the best known to the most unlikely. Not all of them have a scientific basis (only about twenty of them have been the subject of psychological studies), but they all tell how cultures have invented words to name what the mind feels, even before being able to explain it. Alongside this meticulous work, John Koenig’s “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows” has invented extraordinarily evocative emotional neologisms, which seem to fill the gaps in modern language.

Leaving science aside for a moment, here are other curious, poetic or anthropological emotions, which, even without empirical validation, you will surely have felt at least once in your life.

• Awumbuk: the word is used in Papua New Guinea and indicates that feeling of lack and emptiness that is felt when guests leave home; suddenly you perceive the house as empty and you begin to feel a sense of melancholy and nostalgia.
• Ilinx: is a French word and indicates that strange excitement we feel when we think of the joy of being able to lose control for a moment (for example, being able to knock over or break something). Like when we have a vase of precious Chinese porcelain in our hands and we feel the violent impulse to throw it on the ground and destroy it. For Smith it is the desire to create chaos and disruption in order to feel a sense of lightness.
• Torschlusspanik: literally “fear of the closing gate”, is a German word that indicates the agitation and nervousness we feel when time is running out. It can also refer to rash decisions we make because a deadline is approaching or because resources seem scarce (such as impulse buying a pair of shoes just because the store is closing).
• Sonder: the sudden realization that every person you meet or simply passes by has a life as complex and rich as yours.
• Onism: is a Danish word that indicates the frustration and awareness of never being able to see or know the entire vastness of the world since we are “stuck” in one body and one place, for one lifetime.
• Ellipsism: It is the sadness resulting from the knowledge that you will never know how the story will end or what will happen in the future after your life.
• Exulansis: it is the tendency to stop talking about an experience because others cannot understand or empathize with it.
• Basorexia is the irrational temptation to kiss someone suddenly; whether it’s a stranger, a person or someone we know. The term derives from the French “baiser” which translates as “kiss”.
• Matutolypea: the origin of this term is not certain, but it is intended to indicate the feeling you get when you wake up in a bad mood, much more than “getting up on the wrong foot”.

We are now used to hearing about the seven primary emotions, such as fear, joy, anger or sadness: they are empirically observable in all cultures and scientifically legitimized. However, this does not mean that emotions not yet measured or defined do not have a psychological and human value: they are the way in which the mind tries to give shape to what it feels. Ultimately every word, even the most untranslatable, tells something real about what we feel and which is inevitably intertwined with language, culture and subjective nuances.