Sophrosyne

Posted on by Live & Learn

word, definition

Source: Endless Possibilities

39 thoughts on “Sophrosyne”

  2. What do you mean by posting this!!!!!???? I have self control and do everything in moderation except for – – – well, I am not going to spell it out since NSA is listening in. And I am also very aware of myself even though the authorities think otherwise. But that is because they can’t hear the voices. So the bottom line is I am pleased with this miserable life of mine and smile all the time even when there is no one looking (but someone is always looking at me – – – please ask them to stop!)

  4. Of course, all of that is probably only dependent upon whether you can even pronounce that word in the first place. What is in the parentheses probably means “this is not real.” 🙂

  7. Well, since it’s only a state of mind, not necessarily a permanent fixture, most of us probably have at least occasionally been sophrosynic. Is that a word? 🙂

  8. Clearly there is a reason why I didn’t know the meaning, or the existence, of it. Room for improvement I hope.

  13. I like the meaning of the word more. Well, thank you for adding a new word to my dictionary (Hope to remember it for long) 🙂 I have something to share with you.

    Toska (Russian): It’s one of the untranslatable words from around the world.

    Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

      1. Yep, we’ve a habit of showing up in good places, eventually. Clearly these particular Kiwis have excellent taste!

  16. Sonia, I’d love to reblog that. David’s word is too hard for me this morning – and they’re both good distractions from the topic that I almost reblogged – the failure of American constitutionalism and the rise of the (apparently) US stasi..(or was that meant to be Canada, or hang on, NZ?) just saying….
    sophrysene and toska are both such wonderful alternatives – and much more usefully thought provoking!

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