Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Vellichor

n.
the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time—filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.

From vellum, parchment + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Ancient Greek mythology. Pronounced “vel-uh-kawr.”

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Mornden

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

The Kick Drop

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

Midding

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

Agnosthesia

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

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Semaphorism

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

Jouska

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