Farklemt

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Overwhelmed by strong feelings, so that one is momentarily unable to speak
2. Choked up with emotion, struggling to get words out because of being deeply moved
3. Emotionally overcome to the point of being speechless, often from joy or sadness

Etymology: "Farklemt" comes from Yiddish, where it is an adjective meaning overcome with emotion, typically to the point of being unable to speak. Its roots are in the German dialect word "verklemmt," meaning jammed, cramped or constricted, from "klemmen," to pinch or squeeze. The sense of a throat or chest being squeezed shut by feeling is what carried over into Yiddish, and the word is recorded in English mainly through Yiddish-speaking communities in America, where it entered use in the twentieth century. The vowel and consonant shifts are typical of how Yiddish reshaped German words. The "ver-" prefix was dropped and the word took on a rounder, more expressive sound, which suits its meaning of a voice caught in the throat. Because it reached English through speech rather than books, dictionaries have recorded it more slowly than many words of comparable age, and its spelling varies, with "farklempt" also common.