Robert Pogue Harrison, Forests
Toska - noun /ˈtō-skə/ - Russian word roughly translated as sadness, melancholia, lugubriousness.
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.
what about ALL OF THE LEVELS AT ONCE, is that ULTIMATE TOSKA? do you get to tick them off a card and then shout out “TOSKA!” like you say “YAHTZEE!”?