litost · The Map of Untranslatability

litost

The chapter’s point is the gap. The translation does not hunt for a synonym. It keeps the word and teaches it. That is a lexical gap being handled, not a failure to handle one.

Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. In the English text he presents the Czech word as having no exact translation, and defines it as a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.

Where the line breaks

CSParts

litostThe noun

the definitionHow the gap is crossed

CSSourcelitost

litostSource

the definitionSource

EN English Published translation litost

litost Breaks Lexical gap

defined in the chapter Arrives

Published translation. The English text of the novel keeps the Czech word and defines it. The definition English readers quote is the translation’s wording, not a sentence reproduced here from the Czech.

FR French Gloss for this plate litost

litost Breaks Lexical gap

a definition Arrives

Gloss for this plate. Not a quotation from a particular French edition. The claim is lexical: French has no established equivalent, so a translation has to keep the word or write a definition. Kundera lived in France and supervised French versions of his work; this lane does not cite one.

DE German Gloss for this plate litost

litost Breaks Lexical gap

a definition Arrives

Gloss for this plate. A lexical claim, not a quotation from a German edition.

ES Spanish Gloss for this plate litost

litost Breaks Lexical gap

a definition Arrives

Gloss for this plate. A lexical claim, not a quotation from a Spanish edition.

Text alternative

English “litost” (published translation): breaks: lexical gap. French “litost” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap. German “litost” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap. Spanish “litost” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap.

litost The noun

A Czech feeling-word. In the novel’s English text: torment at the sudden sight of one’s own misery. Kundera also ties it to a movement of revenge, the wish to make someone else feel it too.

What happens to “litost” in each lane
Lane	Form	Status	Break	What happens
English	litost	Breaks	Lexical gap	No established English word. The sound is imported. The meaning is not in the lexicon until the next sentences put it there.
French	litost	Breaks	Lexical gap	No conventional French equivalent.
German	litost	Breaks	Lexical gap	No conventional German equivalent. Sehnsucht and Mitleid cover neighboring ground and not this sudden self-wounding.
Spanish	litost	Breaks	Lexical gap	No conventional Spanish equivalent.

the definition How the gap is crossed

The word is kept, then defined in the target language. The meaning arrives as instruction, not as a pre-existing dictionary entry.

What happens to “the definition” in each lane
Lane	Form	Status	Break	What happens
English	defined in the chapter	Arrives	—	The gap is crossed by explanation. A reader of the translation does not leave without the sense. They leave having been taught a word.
French	a definition	Arrives	—	The only accurate crossing is to teach the word.
German	a definition	Arrives	—	The crossing is instructional.
Spanish	a definition	Arrives	—	The crossing is instructional.

The joint

Kundera’s chapter exists to say that litost does not already mean something in other languages. In the English text, the definition is a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery. He then shows the feeling turning outward, toward making another person miserable too. The definition is the translation. There is no hidden synonym waiting offstage.

That is what a lexical gap looks like when a writer is honest about it. The lane marked “breaks” is the missing dictionary word. The lane marked “arrives” is the paragraph that teaches it. Both are part of the same crossing. A map that showed only the hole would be repeating the romance of the unsayable. The book says it, at the length it needs.

French, German, and Spanish are marked here as glosses of the lexical fact, not as editions collated for this plate. The claim is modest: none of those languages has a conventional noun that already means what Kundera spends a chapter meaning. If a given edition handles the paragraph differently, the chapter is still doing definitional work.

Why this break matters to a reader

A reader who skips the definition and treats litost as “sadness” has dropped the suddenness, the self-regard, and the revenge. A reader who takes the definition has the concept, in English, for the rest of the book. The untranslatable word, in this case, is a device. Kundera uses the gap as a scene. Translating him well means leaving the gap visible and then filling it in public.