Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Nemotia

n.
the fear that you’re utterly powerless to change the world around you, looking on helplessly at so many intractable problems out there—slums that sprawl from horizon to horizon, daily headlines of an unstoppable civil war, a slick of air pollution blanketing the skyline—which makes the act of trying to live your own life feel grotesque and self-indulgent, as if you’re rubbernecking through the world.

Slovenian nemočen, powerless. Pronounced “nih-moh-shah.”

Solysium

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

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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

Bareleveling

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

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Kuebiko

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