La Cuna

Cover image for the La Cuna word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

La Cuna

n.
a twinge of sadness that there’s no frontier left, that as the last explorer trudged his armies toward the last blank spot on the map, he didn’t suddenly turn for home, leaving one last island unexplored so we could set it aside as a strategic reserve of mystery.

Latin lacuna, an unfilled space or hole + Spanish la cuna, cradle. Pronounced “lah koo-nuh.”

Zielschmerz

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

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Nachlophobia

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

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window