The Definition of Love - Assignment Example

The word ‘life’ is related to ‘live’ in Old Frisian, ‘Luba’ in old Germany, and ‘lubo’ in Gothic. In early systems of Scandinavian languages, there was ‘lof’, an equivalent of today’s ‘love’. Its present meanings were also contributed by the Indo-European ‘libido’ connoting desire and ‘lube’ which meant that something was attractive. As the word was changing from culture to culture, it acquired a different meaning considering the varying purposes for which people wanted to use it and the kind of emotions they wanted to express and as it came to Greek, the word ‘love’ acquired its meaning, as I define it and from the OED definition, from the Greek mythology in ancient Greek were words like ‘xenia’, “philia,” “storge,” “eros,” and “agape.”
It is intoxicatingly fascinating to note that the meaning of words evolves from time to time and from culture to culture as necessitated by cultures and customs. My definition of love as an intangible emotion that one experiences when they meet something or someone that makes them happy has been shaped by my American culture. Similarly, the word ‘love’ acquired various terms such as ‘libido’, ‘lof’, ‘Luba’, and ‘lube’ in various languages as necessitated by what the people wanted to express, and such meanings have been changing from time to time to a now relatively standard meaning of ‘love’. Hence, the meaning of words is shaped by time, cultures, and customs coupled with the message that they are envisioned to communicate. Read More