Solysium

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

Solysium

n.
the unhinged delirium of being alone for an extended period of time— feeling the hours stretch into days until a weird little culture begins to form inside your head, with its own superstitions and alternate histories and a half-mumbled dialect all your own—whose freewheeling absurdity feels oddly liberating but makes it that much harder to reacclimate to the strictures and ambiguities of normal social life.

From solitary, being by oneself + asylum, a sanctuary for the mentally ill + Elysium, the Ancient Greek equivalent of heaven. Pronounced “soh-lee-zee-uhm.”

Loss Of Backing

Cover image for the Loss Of Backing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Mcfeely

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

The Whipgraft Delusion

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

Malotype

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

Indosentia

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

Leidenfreude

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

Emodox

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

Maugry

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

Liberosis

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

Trueholding

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

Agnosthesia

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

Deep Gut

Cover image for the Deep Gut word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Manusia

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

Nementia

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

Altschmerz

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

Altschmerz

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

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Drisson

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

Trumspringa

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

Candling

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

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Wytai

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

Heartmoor

a campfire with a kettle many small logs