Etherness

Cover image for the Etherness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Etherness

n.
the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones, all too aware that even though the room is filled with warmth and laughter now, it won’t always be this way—that the coming years will steadily break people away into their own families, or see them pass away one by one, until there comes a time when you’ll look back and try to imagine what it felt like to have everyone together in the same place.

From ether, an intoxicating compound that evaporates very quickly + togetherness. Pronounced “eth-er-nis.”

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

The Til

Cover image for the The Til word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass