Express your joy!

Our life is a pursuit of happiness. Though understood as a phenomenon that can rarely be palpably defined, happiness has nuances and tinges that vary by the occasion, intensity and origin.

Mirth

Mirth is jollity, especially when accompanied by laughter. From Germanic origin, mirth shares a root with the word merry. It has been around since the time Old English was spoken.

Rapture

Rapture is ecstatic delight or joyful ecstasy. It comes from the Latin raptura meaning “abduction,” “carrying away”. In Middle French, rapture means “abduction.” This term can also refer to the carrying of a person to another sphere of existence. In Christian theology, the rapture will happen when Christ returns to earth.

Exultation

Exultation is lively or triumphant joy, generally over success or victory. It comes from the Latin, exultationem, and has been used in English since the 1400s.

Elation

Elation is a feeling of great joy or pride, or of exultant gladness. In Middle English, elat means “proud.” Elation ultimately comes from Latin, by way of Old French.

Glee

Glee is open delight or pleasure. This term has had musical associations as the noun glee could be used to refer to harmonious entertainment. The meaning of delight came about 100 years later. By the 17th century, glee was considered obsolete or comic by various dictionary editors, only to reemerge in common usage by the late 18th century.

Jubilation

Jubilation is a loud expression of joy, or a festive celebration. This term entered English in the late 1300s, from the Latin meaning “shouting for joy.” It has since been immortalised in Simon and Garfunkel’s song “Cecilia”: “Jubilation! She loves me again; I fall on the floor and I’m laughing.”