Sonder- Daily Word №17
Yonder? Not quite…This word is invented after all…
Today’s word is another invented one. Since vellichor , I decided to do another invented word, and so here we are.
sonder is a handful, it is the ‘profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passed in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.’
Didn’t quite get that? (I didn’t on my first go)
Don’t worry, I’ll explain:
Looking Deeper
This word is also from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and was coined just recently in 2012 by John Koenig.
sonder was inspired by the German sonder, which means ‘special’. It may also have ‘roots’ in the French sonder, which means ‘to probe’. The French meaning really means to test the depth of something, which also happens to define the English sonder very well.
Using ‘sonder’ in a Sentence
sonder is also a hard one. As with all invented words, it has limited use and usually stays in one niche, which makes it really hard to utilise. We can, however, use this unique and stunning noun to describe our fears of oblivion and the subjectivity of reality.
I’ll try:
“Struck with sonder, I proceeded down the aisle, alone.”
