Language

The Unlikely Success of “Sonder”

How did an “invented” word become a ubiquitous brand name?

Have you ever been at a loss for a word to describe a particular emotion or state of mind? John Koenig understands. A 40-year-old American who grew up in Switzerland, Koenig decided a dozen or so years ago to invent new English words for complicated feelings of loneliness, melancholy, and wonder. He turned his new lexicon into a book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which became a best seller and which Koenig turned into a popular TED…