#Microblog Monday 241: Waldeinsamkeit
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I just learned a new word: Waldeinsamkeit. It means “the feeling of being alone in the woods” or something close to that. Which implies peace: finding a peaceful moment while you’re on your own in a dense forest. Which doesn’t sound peaceful to me… at all.
I’m an indoor kid.
I don’t really cherish my time in nature. I like bodies of water, so if there was a word in German that captured the feeling of being engaged in a good book while on the beach, I’m all over that. But barring that, I don’t really crave finding solitude in the woods. While I am fond of the concept of trees, I don’t spend a lot of time with them.
What’s a new word you’ve learned recently?
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7 comments
As someone who has lived the majority of her life in the desert Southwest of the USA, I find woods creepy and would NEVER experience a peaceful moment while on my own in a dense forest. I feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable when trees block a lot of the sky.
I find peace near the ocean (ironic, since I’m lucky to get there once a year) and find the stark beauty of the desert restorative, too. But like you, I am more of an indoor person generally.
I haven’t heard any good new words lately. I love discovering those, though.
I love that word, and whilst I don’t spend much time alone in the woods (or bush, as we would say here) I do like the idea of being there, in utter peace. (Perhaps our lack of dangerous animals or snakes makes it easier to feel peaceful there?)
I’m not sure I’ve learned any new words lately, though a friend occasionally posts new words about travel, and I fall in love with those then promptly forget them! Okay, I just googled and found my favourite. Fernweh, or far-sickness, means an intense desire to travel (more than wanderlust), or even feeling homesick for somewhere you’ve never been. I suffer from that a lot!
Oh, the German language has amazing compound words that are super specific! I love that one. I didn’t know it before reading this, so does that count? I like the idea of “forest bathing,” too, which has a Japanese name but I can’t remember it. I do love being in the woods, although not camping (because bears, and killers, and spiders), but that moment of quiet and peace when it seems you are the only person on earth and all you hear is wind rustling through trees and birds and stuff? That’s awesome. Does it have to be a dense forest? Maybe a dark and fairy-tale dense forest would be scary to be in alone.
That is a cool word! So cool, I totally went blank trying to think of a new word I’ve learned recently. shoot.
I like the woods, but being in a dense forest gives me the creeps. And despite being raise on camping, I am a horrible camper – too many scary things in my mind.
Can’t think of a new word now that I’m trying to think of one. Dark woods at night sounds scary even though I love nature. I grew up in the suburbs of NYC and couldn’t wait until I finally moved there for college. So while I love nature, I run through the woods with a set of keys in one hand and pepper spray in the other and the one and only time I went camping was at a State park (would love to go again) I reveled in the stars and the night air while wondering if all of those campfires were really book burnings.
I found one just for you: Tsundoku
This word is made up of the characters for the verb ‘to accumulate, pile up’ and the verb ‘to read’, but it is also a play on tsunde oku, which means to simply pile up something and leave it. It is defined as constantly buying books that accumulate but never get read, but all of us who have piles of unread books at home can take comfort in the presence of the character ‘to read’ in tsundoku, which suggests to me that we will get around to reading our piles of books one of these days.
(found it here: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2016/11/03/untranslatable-japanese-words/)
While for myself the lliteral meaning of Torschlusspanik (also from oxford dictionaries) the panic just before leaving the house for a trip is a nice new word. (Did I turn down the heating? have enough keys? where are my sunglasses and the thoughts never stop)
I do believe I like that word. It makes me smell the woods, which I find very pleasing. I would like being alone in the woods as long as I wouldn’t be stuck there.
I wish I had a word to contribute. I’ll be on the alert for one.