Epicaricacy

Epicaricacy (pronounced epp-e-kar-a-kh-see)

Rejoicing at or deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others (rare & probably extinct).

1700s: From the Ancient Greek ἐπιχαιρεκακία (epikhairekakía) (joy upon evil).  Epichairekakia appears first in the work of Aristotle, the construct being ἐπί (epi-) (upon) + χαρά (chara) (joy) + κακόν (kakon) (evil).  Epicaricacy has appeared in dictionaries of English since the early eighteenth century but there’s is no indication there was anything actual use of the word until the early twenty-first when there appeared a number of websites devoted to "interesting”, “obscure” or “rare” words.  Even then, use seems to have been limited to documenting that very rarity and obscurity.

In English, the German compound Schadenfreude (joy in the misfortune of others) has come to be preferred, used commonly since the late twentieth century although it was mentioned in English documents in 1852 and 1867 and first used in running text in 1895.  The construct of Schadenfreude, first attested in German in the 1740s, is Schaden (damage, misfortune) + Freude (joy).  The definition of Schadenfreude is usually extended to include “malicious enjoyment” but, as used in English, this isn’t always accurate and while “gloat” is close to Schadenfreude, it differs in that gloating need not be malicious and can be practiced and understood as something friendly or affectionate.  While common nouns normally are not capitalized in English, Schadenfreude sometimes is, following the German convention and this may be better because, unlike an assimilated word like etcetera, Schadenfreude remains still foreign.

Epicaricacy is usually delicious but can be enjoyed even more if the associated scuttlebutt, rumors, gossip (it's such an intoxicating thing tautology is inevitable), stories and low skulduggery are recorded so endlessly the pleasure can be enjoyed with no detail forgotten.  A Burn Book is recommended.

Although Schadenfreude is now not uncommon in English, the emotion it describes is undoubtedly more frequently felt than expressed.  Predictably perhaps, the antonym "confelicity", the construct being the Latin con- (from cum (with)) + the Latin felicitas (happiness), although in English since the nineteenth century, is noted by most dictionaries as rare; it seems we relish the misery of others more than their happiness.  Still, English at least has confleicity, German apparently offering no antonym for Schadenfreude, confirming everyone's worst prejudices about the Prussians.  Epicaricacy certainly had its chance, appearing in two of Nathan Bailey’s Lexicons, the Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1737) and the Dictionarium Britannicum, (1751) which stimulated apparently no interest in the word and nor did Joseph Shipley’s Dictionary of Early English or Peter Novobatzky & Ammon Shea’s marvelous Depraved and Insulting English, both from 1955, encourage a spike.  Those entries were however sufficient for epicaricacy to deserve a place in Mrs Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words (1974) yet it remained neglected while Schadenfreude gained critical mass which means the German import is better than the English construct.  That’s how English works and is part of its charm; it’s a slut of a language which takes in whatever best suits the needs of the moment.