vocabulary gaps
Oct. 23rd, 2005 03:54 pmThere ought to be a word that means the inverse of schadenfreude. In fact, it might even need to be a matrix:
pleasure derived from the pain of others: schadenfreude
pain derived from the pain of others: sympathy, empathy, pity, commiseration?
pain derived from the pleasure of others: envy?
pleasure derived from the pleasure of others: ???
All the English words seem a bit mild and unfocused compared to the perfection of the word schadenfreude. Which undoubtedly says something about the German language and/or temperament, which could be either about a tendency to be specific, or about a tendency to be negative, or both.
And offhand, I can't think of any word that covers the case of being happy specifically because someone else is happy. Am I missing something obvious?
pleasure derived from the pain of others: schadenfreude
pain derived from the pain of others: sympathy, empathy, pity, commiseration?
pain derived from the pleasure of others: envy?
pleasure derived from the pleasure of others: ???
All the English words seem a bit mild and unfocused compared to the perfection of the word schadenfreude. Which undoubtedly says something about the German language and/or temperament, which could be either about a tendency to be specific, or about a tendency to be negative, or both.
And offhand, I can't think of any word that covers the case of being happy specifically because someone else is happy. Am I missing something obvious?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 07:01 am (UTC)