On the Colbert Report(the Daily Show spin-off), there was a joke that many here would appreciate, although it is slightly inaccurate. This is paraphrased.

Colbert: There is a new movement in Germany trying to make Germans happier. (Shows clip from some German happiness campaign) This is bad, because when Germans are happy, everyone else is unhappy. (Show newspaper headline when Germany invaded Poland in 1939) The Germans call it Schadenfreude, (Shows a graphic with the word in a dictionary layout), and they're the only ones who even have a word for it.

This was pretty funny, although probably ethnically insensitive, as well as being inaccurate, since German isn't the only language with a word for this. Still, it isn't often word jokes like this come up on Comedy Central.

I know of at least one language that has a word for schadenfreude: Greek. In fact, schadenfreude was coined in 1591 by Ostermann for the Latin phrase libitinariorum vota "undertakers' vows" (which occurs in Seneca De beneficiis, 6, 38, 4.).

I won't ask the obvious question.

Undertaker's vows? Don't take joy in someone's death (because, after all, you make money from it)?

Sean, thanks for that. How funny! Quite appropriate for this board, really. The fact is, if I were to rename this board, it would probably be "Epicaricactic Musings," or something similar. I bet we'd get hits with that, if only because people would wonder what it is.

I think vow more in the sense of pledge or promise.

How the devil did you come up with that reference, zmj? [impressed-again icon]

I was wondering how the meaning of "Schadenfreude" evolved from libitinariorum vota and thought maybe undertakers took a vow not to be joyful when they got business. It was just a thought.

quote:

How the devil did you come up with that reference

I found it in Kluge's Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. I have been trying to track down the Seneca text (for the full context) and Ostermann's translation, but my regular job keeps reprioritizing itself.

quote:

but my regular job keeps reprioritizing itself.

Well, we just won't have that!

[I know the problem!]

quote:

but my regular job keeps reprioritizing itself.

Is that autoreprioritization?

[Nine syllables! high five, hic!]

I saw the word algolagnia on OEDILF, meaning taking sexual pleasure in inflicting or enduring pain. It seems somewhat related to Schadenfreude.

All this talk about Schadenfreude und epicaricacy brings to mind this Unsolicited Sample of S & M Porn

quote:

S: Hurt me!
M: I won't!
S: Ah! Ecstasy!