Beautiful words

One of the things I'm most enjoying about learning a second language is coming across a word that perfectly encapsulates an idea or concept expressed in many words in your mother tongue. Some words, too, seem far more apt than their equivalent, perhaps because they are more evocative, more onomatopoeic or perhaps just simpler to say. The English word "soundpost" for describing the part of a violin integral to creating and characterising its sound doesn't really compare to the French "ame", meaning soul, does it? Nor does the unweildy "stringed-instrument maker" compare favourably with the more poetic "Luthier". Mind you, if French is strong on the poetic, English wins in quirkiness. In what other language do you find such great words as "hodgepodge", "skew-wiff", "serendipity", "kaleidoscope""or such imaginative spellings as "hiccough"?