Sunday Citizen consulted international dictionaries and cross-cultural websites to identify words in other languages related to wellness that don’t directly translate to English.
Mерак (Serbian)
- Meaning: Pleasure that comes from everyday joys
In Bosnia, “merak” is enjoying wiling away the day while drinking a cup of coffee or chatting with friends. In Greece, “meraki” means putting something you love into what you’re doing, whether it be making a meal or decorating a room. And in Serbia, “mерак” refers to the feeling of oneness and peace that accompanies simple, mundane joys. Mерак is not something that can be bought, but must be experienced, whether it be through eating a meal with friends, lingering over a drink, or enjoying music.
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Sisu (Finnish)
- Meaning: Willpower and resilience
The word sisu (pronounced see-soo) is derived from “sisus,” which means “guts or intestines” in Finnish. Centuries ago, guts were thought to be where strong emotions came from in the body. The word came to be held up as a core trait of Finnish people after Finland gained its independence from Russia in 1917.
Emilia Lahti, a Finnish researcher who studies the phenomenon of sisu, calls it embodied fortitude. Sisu is the hidden inner strength only accessed in times of adversity, when one is at the end of emotional and physical rope, but presses on anyway. Lahti points out that sisu is not so much something that can be consciously willed into existence, but is instead connected to a more visceral and experiential need to endure, which pushes the mind and body to continue.
This story originally appeared on Sunday Citizen and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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