As writers we are continually on the hunt for words. Words drive us. Words are our souls. And a couple of days ago I found one. This one is from the Sioux language and I think it is absolutely beautiful.
Cantognake
It means to place and hold in one’s heart.
It can be used to describe a special place or person or persons or, for that matter, any soul or anything where ever you might encounter it.
I just recently left a place and souls I have placed in my heart. Of course, there is already a collection of souls and places that occupy my heart too. My heart is filling up. It feels good. Warm and glowing. And even better to have a word to describe it.
Do you have a favorite word?
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Photo: A lake shore from up in the north country. There are so many pictures I could choose of locations and special persons and animal friends that I really couldn’t decide which to use for this post. I might have to add an entire gallery under this same title 🙂
Great word …I shall add it in my list
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Beautiful. I really like the word luminous. I don’t use it much but when I do I like how it feels and how it sounds. Great post. Have a wonderful weekend✨
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That’s a wonderful word Dr. Perry ! Light, energy, love, beauty 🙂
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Love ‘contognake’, thank you Stearley. One of my favourites is ‘indaba’. It comes from the Matabele tribe in Zimbabwe. I think the rough translation is ‘others business’. So, when someone makes choices through words and actions, that’s their ‘indaba’. ❤
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Thanks Jane ! Great word ! I love learning new words and the feelings, images, an emotions they can carry. I have a friend from Germany who explained to me that the German language has words to describe feelings that English lacks. It’s amazing what we can learn from each other 🙂
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It certainly is and the stereotypical view is that Germans are not expressive, which is obviously, not true. x
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I have heard the word holistic so many times this year, it’s not my favorite word, but I stop every time I hear it
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I guess words can be overused too, and maybe even distorted over time. Maybe we can teach people to use them wisely. They can be very powerful 🙂
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I wrote about that a few weeks ago. Words, and choice of word is extremely important. Many people don’t realize this!
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You are quite right. I think I just found your post and you gave excellent examples !
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Thank you!!
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Learned something new this morning 🙂
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And I learn when I visit your blog too. This is a great community for sharing ideas, thoughts, dreams 🙂
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A wonderful word. Never heard it. You continue to teach us. I guess we all have that place and yesterday it really came to the surface. We missed you and I put the feeder out and will continue for the birds there as if you were still there.
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Thanks Betty !
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Languages from outside the typical western orbit often have wonderful concepts embedded within some words. A longtime favorite of mine was ‘Qoyaanisqatsi’ meaning ‘life out of balance’ from the Hopi language. ‘
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Thanks for reading and for your comments ! That is a great word and oh so applicable to today’s society 🙂 Great one, thanks again !
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Something to add in my vocabulary, it sounds beautiful. I love many words. I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thank you !
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Wonderful word! How do you say it? Do we use it as a verb? One of my favourite words in a foreign language is gemütlich — a not uncommon German word that means pleasant and cheerful (and perhaps content).
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That’s a great word too Vera ! It’s Con – tog – na – k 🙂 ❤
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I’ve decided if I use it as a noun, I could say: Don’t know how it happened, but he seems to have assumed the status of contognake in my life.
Or to use it as a verb, I would say: He contognake his way into my life.
🙂 maybe?
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I like it! Or, “As he looked deeply into my eyes, he softly said contognake.” 🙂
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Yes, that’s a lovely example.
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A correction on pronunciation – chan-doe-gnan-key. I hope all is well in your heart 🙂
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Ah, that is so lovely. And gnan — a silent “g”, I presume. Thank you for the correction. Yes, all is good!
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Yes, silent g. Glad to hear that 🙂
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🙂
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