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Nov 1, 2023 · From its humble beginnings in Old English to its rich diversity across cultures, love remains a powerful force that unites humanity. As we continue to explore the depths of this complex emotion, let us embrace love in all its forms and celebrate its linguistic roots. Old English origin: lufu. Proto-Germanic origin: lubō.
Oct 13, 2021 · Old English lufian "to feel love for, cherish, show love to; delight in, approve," from Proto-Germanic *lubojanan (source also of Old High German lubon, German lieben), a verb from the root of love (n.). Weakened sense of "like" attested by c. 1200. Intransitive sense "be in love, have a passionate attachment" is from mid-13c.
There are 24 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun love, six of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence. love has developed meanings and uses in subjects including. Christianity (Old English) physiology (Old English) law (Old English) classical mythology (Middle English) gambling ...
- Overview
- Etymology
- Psychological theories of love
- Biological theories of love
love, an emotion characterized by strong feelings of affection for another arising out of kinship, companionship, admiration, or benevolence. In a related sense, “love” designates a benevolent concern for the good or welfare of others. The term is also used to refer to sexual attraction or erotic desire toward another. Love as an individual emotion...
The word love is derived from the hypothetical term leubh, a root in Proto-Indo-European (the reconstructed parent of Indo-European languages) meaning care or desire. Leubh eventually developed into Latin libet and Old English lufu, which was both a noun and a verb describing deep affection or being very fond of something.
One prominent psychological theory of love, the triangular theory, was introduced in the 1980s by the American psychologist Robert Sternberg. Sternberg argued that love has three emotional components: intimacy, passion, and decision or commitment. Familiar forms or experiences of love can be understood to consist of a single component, different combinations of two components, or all three components. For example, the love that is characteristic of close friendships or liking consists of intimacy alone; infatuation consists of passion alone; “empty love”—which may exist at an early stage of an arranged marriage or at a later stage of a deteriorating marriage—consists of commitment alone; romantic love consists of intimacy and passion; “companionate” love consists of intimacy and commitment; fatuous love consists of passion and commitment; and consummate, or complete, love consists of a combination of all three components, intimacy, passion, and commitment. Sternberg also held that forms of love consisting of combinations of components tend to last longer than those consisting of single components.
In the 1970s the American social psychologist Zick Rubin developed a conception of love as consisting of attachment, caring, and intimacy and a conception of liking as consisting of closeness, admiration, respect, and warmth. He incorporated these elements into detailed questionnaires of liking and loving whose scalable answers collectively provide a relatively objective measure of the strength and character of liking or loving in a given relationship.
Many biochemists consider love to be a biological process. Positive socializing triggers cognitive and physiological processes that create desirable or beneficial emotional and neurological states. A relationship provides constant triggering of sensory and cognitive systems that prompt the body to seek love and to respond positively to interaction with loved ones and negatively to their absence. Recent biological theories of love, pioneered in evolutionary research by the American anthropologist Helen Fisher, break down love into three biological processes: lust, attraction, and attachment. Lust generally operates through the distribution of the hormones testosterone and estrogen, attraction via the organic compound dopamine and the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin, and attachment through the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin. For evolutionary biologists, each component of love has an evolutionary basis: lust for encouraging sexual reproduction, attraction for discriminating in favor of healthy mates, and attachment for facilitating familial bonding.
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For additional discussion of love and other emotions from varied scientific perspectives, see emotion.
A: The word ‘love’ can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root word ‘leubh’. Q: How has the meaning of ‘love’ evolved over time? A: The word ‘love’ has evolved from its Proto-Indo-European root to Old English, Middle English, and finally to its modern form in English, with changes in spelling, pronunciation, and nuanced meanings.
The word love (in its noun form) has a history you have to love. Dating back to the Proto-Indo-European word leubh, meaning "care" or "desire", it later evolved into Latin with the word lubet, which went on further to become libet. Libet is also the father of the word libido, which is connected to love almost as closely as its roots.
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Jun 23, 2017 · Plato’s Symposium contains a myth about the origins of human love, the Myth of Aristophanes.. Once upon a time, there were three kinds of people: male, descended from the sun; female, descended ...
