I often feel like words cannot truly capture the density, depth, or intricacy of my thoughts and emotions about the greater aspects of life. Words can lock in big complex sensations into terms that often feel too simple. But language and our use of it to communicate is quite incredible in what it allows us to capture and share with others. We have developed quite an array of symbols to describe the world around us and our perceptions of it. That is what makes language so fascinating to anthropologists. Our language is a reflection of the way in which we as a collective culture, sharing a common language, experience or perceive the world.
Aren’t these beautifully illustrated words from cultures around the world wonderful? See more here.
And one of my favorites in Rapanui (the Polynesian language spoken on Easter Island) is the closest word (or phrase) they have for love: Mo more manava mo te hanga au kia koe e. Literally: The tightening / wrenching of the stomach that is made by my want for you. The Rapanui believe that a person feels with their stomach, not with their heart. This give that “gut feeling” a new meaning.
Yet, although we share a language with a group of people who often experience the world in similar ways, we each individually have our own understanding of the delicate nuances of a particular word. And therein lies a conundrum: can anyone really know you— really truly understand what you are thinking and feeling? Your own very individual experiences and background color your understanding of the world right down to what a word means or represents to you. 
But still, some words do seem to come close to expressing those most complex of sensations or feelings. And looking at those words across languages gives us an incredible window into not only how different groups of people experience the world, but also the vast variety of emotions and perceptions we, as humans, experience and try to capture in our languages. I stumbled across this tumbler some months ago and love using it to discover some of that complex and colorful vocabulary we have developed around the world.
The feeling I had before I found Easter Island….
And some more of my favorites….
