Speciagua

Definition: Part of the narrative of humanity has been the search for the “fountain of youth”, or everlasting life. Speciagua is the subtle unconscious loss of this search which has, historically, been so deeply ingrained in us— or a collective feeling for the first time that we might outlive the world we know— that the spring eternal which has been our planet, and home, may be uninhabitable to our species in a time frame that is comprehensible to us, this feeling can  manifest in a desire not to live forever but to, sometimes greedily, enjoy the present time.

Usage: At 75 seeing another species decline in his lifetime, Juan found a certain comfort in speciagua and a relief in his own mortality.

Origin: Jack Sullivan, Santa Barbara Field Studies, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, 2016

Derived from: Spec or speculation (Latin) + Agua (Latin) water