Mots Errants

Written By Dorian Orlando

1. Dépaysement (French)

  • Meaning: Disorientation when far from home — a sweet vertigo of strangeness.

  • EN: To lose one’s bearings, yet feel strangely alive in the unfamiliar.

  • FR: Le vertige doux-amer d’être ailleurs, ni tout à fait étranger, ni tout à fait chez soi.

  • IT: Lo spaesamento che inquieta e incanta, la dolce vertigine dell’essere altrove.

2. Ammaliare (Italian)

  • Meaning: To enchant, to bewitch with charm or beauty.

  • EN: A gaze that seduces without asking, binding the soul in invisible threads.

  • FR: Un regard qui captive sans prévenir, et qui enchaîne l’âme par des fils invisibles.

  • IT: Uno sguardo che incanta senza chiedere, che lega l’anima con fili invisibili.

3. Sballo (Italian, colloquial)

  • Meaning: Ecstasy, intoxication, euphoria — often from music, love, or even chaos.

  • EN: The reckless joy that drowns reason and lets the heart go barefoot.

  • FR: La joie insensée qui noie la raison et laisse le cœur marcher pieds nus.

  • IT: La gioia sfrenata che affoga la ragione e lascia il cuore camminare scalzo.

4. Cascamorto (Italian, figurative)

  • Meaning: A fawning flatterer, someone who throws themselves at others for attention.

  • EN: A soul always leaning forward, desperate to be noticed, yet never truly seen.

  • FR: Une âme toujours penchée en avant, avide d’être remarquée, mais jamais vraiment vue.

  • IT: Un’anima sempre protesa, ansiosa di essere notata, ma mai davvero guardata.

5. Bellino (Italian, diminutive)

  • Meaning: Pretty, cute, charming — often used tenderly or ironically.

  • EN: A softness that makes the ordinary glow for a fleeting moment.

  • FR: Une douceur qui fait briller l’ordinaire le temps d’un instant.

  • IT: Una tenerezza che fa brillare l’ordinario per un attimo fugace.

6. Désabusé (French)

  • Meaning: Disenchanted, weary, stripped of illusions.

  • EN: The silence of someone who has seen too much and believes too little.

  • FR: Le silence de celui qui a trop vu et qui ne croit presque plus.

  • IT: Il silenzio di chi ha visto troppo e crede ormai troppo poco.

7. Pocharder (French, colloquial)

  • Meaning: To drink heavily, to get drunk (informal).

  • EN: To seek oblivion in a glass, to stumble into laughter or tears at dusk.

  • FR: Chercher l’oubli dans un verre, chanceler vers le rire ou les larmes au crépuscule.

  • IT: Cercare l’oblio in un bicchiere, barcollare verso il riso o le lacrime al crepuscolo.

Dorian Orlando