The pain in Spain

Pain is a very personal thing. As a massage therapist, I deal with pain on a daily basis. The infinite, minute subtleties of discomfort – ache? sharp? tingling? stiff? sore? tender? – are something so personal that it’s really difficult to describe accurately in another language. I speak pretty good Spanish now, but still get lost between “dolor” and “agujetas” (that’s pain and sore, btw). So here, for your enjoyment, is a list of the Spanish synonyms for pain:

desconsuelo, mal, pesar, suplicio, tortura, aflicción, angustia, congoja, daño, pena, tormento, calvario
-aflicción – agonía – agujeta – agujetas – alifafe – amargura – arrepentimiento – atrición – cimbrón – contrición – jaqueca – desolación – duelo – enfermedad – goce – lástima – mal – patetismo – pena – pésame – prueba – punzada – pupa – purgatorio – sentimiento – sufrimiento – tormento – trastorno

Clearly not all of these deal with physical pain. But then again, how astute are we when differentiating between the two? It’s not that coincidental that neckache coincides with a bust-up with your partner in which words were left unsaid (visuddha chakra). Nor it is unusual for the lungs to ache when grief is intense (in TCM, grief is associated with Lung Qi).

Net conclusion: I need to improve my vocabulary. Let’s see, how can I work ‘alifafe’ into a sentence?