(Norwegian) (adj.): Being accustomed to walk in the mountains. (Welsh, n.): to hug, a safe welcoming place. 'tea and water' favours or money given to someone to get something done (similar to a 'bribe', but without a negative connotation). 'going towards' a meeting (often secret) between lovers / partners. Here are some of our favourites: Abhisar (अभिमान) The feelings and situations described are often immediately recognisable as something positive yet only one language has created a single word for these universal emotions. They're words and phrases that are used in a positive sense (happiness, joy, skill, relationships). The paper is the end result of the Positive Lexicography Project which is an online glossary of hundreds of untranslatable words, and the list is still growing.ĭr Lomas stresses that the list is a work in progress. Second, a more ambitious aim is that this lexicon may help expand the emotional vocabulary of English speakers (and indeed speakers of all languages), and consequently enrich their experiences of well-being.' 'First, it aims to provide a window onto cultural differences in constructions of well-being, thereby enriching our understanding of well-being. In a paper for the Journal of Positive Psychology, Dr Lomas described the aims of his research:

There are plenty of foreign words we use in English because they lack a proper translation.Īloha for instance is a Hawaiian word that has spread overseas and is used as a greeting, but the word literally translates as: 'breath of presence'.ĭr Tim Lomas is a psychologist at the University of East London who has been investigating how positive feelings and well-being are expressed in other languages.

German words in english