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Forums » RP Discussion » Different connotations of the word "love?"

Love. We all write about it in RPs, in one form of another. I got to thinking about what the word means and how it's used to mean many different things in the English language.

And I started wondering...what is it, really? Could the meaning of the word "love" in different languages shed some light on the idea's fundamental meaning?

So here's my question.

If you speak another language in addition to English, what does the word "love" translate to in that other language?

Is the meaning exactly the same thing as the English word "love," or are there subtle differences?

And if there are differences that are lost in translation, what are they?

I'll start the thread off with what I think the word means in English.


"Love" (English) -

1) a feeling of strong affection towards a person, animal, object or idea. More intense than "liking." Liking to an extreme degree. Used in this way for friends, TV shows, cities, almost anything.

2) Something you can "fall into" but that is usually only used when talking about romantic love and it means a sort of dreamy state where you think about another person often and want to do romantic things with them/for them and vice versa.

3) a kind of universal spiritual energy force (I've heard people say "the language of the spirit world in love")

4) (linked to 3) a synonym for/explanation of the essence of God (ie. "God is love")


What does it mean in your primary language?

Or feel free to add if I've left an additional connotation of the English word out that you think of.
RimCaster

Well there are two main words that are close to english love.

"Kochać" which is act of loving someone/something. while "Miłość" is feeling/state of being in love with something/someone. In short One is activity, other is feeling.

Dictionary meaning:

Kochać- to feel something about someone or like something/someone very much(which is related to latin 'Amor')

Miłość- deep feeling of affection towards someone, usually accompanied by feeling of desire/lust; strong bond which connects at least two people; feeling of strong bond with someone who means much to someone; Deep interest in someone, finding pleasure in someone; Love-interest; or simply sex.

It lost a bit on it's old usage.

Lets start on act of love(which is Kochać)-
Kochać which in old meant to touch or to correctly say, to caress/pet.

Funny fact: 'Kobieta' another polish word is word having roots in Toscanini dialect which means "Being which like to touch/ to hug"


While Miłość is a bit more nuanced.

In XIV and XV it was used as honorific towards higher ranked people, which meant merciful or kind ex. Kind Lord(Waszmość Panie)


Miłość and Mijać(meaning to pass by) Miły(meaning Nice) have the same prefix.

In it's old slavic meaning mei(Miły) meant someone who you could pass by without conflict.
Well, in my language(Spanish), the word love can be translated into two different words.

Querer = A feeling of attachment or fonding to an idea, person, object, animal or concept.

Amor = A strong feeling of love towards a read above.

Both can be translated as love, but they have a difference with regards to the amount or strength of said feeling, also with the intentions of such feelings.

"Querer" for example means either Love or Want. It is a feeling of wanting, a desire for possession over something.

Yo quiero = I want

Yo te quiero = I love you

"Amor" In the other hand only means Love, no other meaning there and is the word more related to the English equivalent. There is a little difference however in the way it is expressed as a verb.

While in English is used the expression "fall in love" in the Spanish language, this isn't used, as the act of loving something or someone is not considered a "fall" since the act of falling hints to some negative connotations. We simply combine the word with the verb in time and the personal pronoun.


Yo amé, yo amo, yo amaré. = I loved, i love, i will love.

El amó, el ama, el amara. = He loved, he love, he will love.
Abigail_Austin Topic Starter

RimCaster wrote:
Well there are two main words that are close to english love.

"Kochać" which is act of loving someone/something. while "Miłość" is feeling/state of being in love with something/someone. In short One is activity, other is feeling.

Dictionary meaning:

Kochać- to feel something about someone or like something/someone very much(which is related to latin 'Amor')

Miłość- deep feeling of affection towards someone, usually accompanied by feeling of desire/lust; strong bond which connects at least two people; feeling of strong bond with someone who means much to someone; Deep interest in someone, finding pleasure in someone; Love-interest; or simply sex.

It lost a bit on it's old usage.

Lets start on act of love(which is Kochać)-
Kochać which in old meant to touch or to correctly say, to caress/pet.

Funny fact: 'Kobieta' another polish word is word having roots in Toscanini dialect which means "Being which like to touch/ to hug"


While Miłość is a bit more nuanced.

In XIV and XV it was used as honorific towards higher ranked people, which meant merciful or kind ex. Kind Lord(Waszmość Panie)


Miłość and Mijać(meaning to pass by) Miły(meaning Nice) have the same prefix.

In it's old slavic meaning mei(Miły) meant someone who you could pass by without conflict.

Thank you, Rimcaster, that is very interesting! This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find out. It's a great, detailed analysis. I love it.


Also reminds me of another usage in English. The phrase "love on" is used as more of an action than a feeling and usually means to caress, pet, show physical affection. Such as "I'm gotta go home and love on my cat some before I go out to dinner."
Abigail_Austin Topic Starter

Drink wrote:
Well, in my language(Spanish), the word love can be translated into two different words.

Querer = A feeling of attachment or fonding to an idea, person, object, animal or concept.

Amor = A strong feeling of love towards a read above.

Both can be translated as love, but they have a difference with regards to the amount or strength of said feeling, also with the intentions of such feelings.

"Querer" for example means either Love or Want. It is a feeling of wanting, a desire for possession over something.

Yo quiero = I want

Yo te quiero = I love you

"Amor" In the other hand only means Love, no other meaning there and is the word more related to the English equivalent. There is a little difference however in the way it is expressed as a verb.

While in English is used the expression "fall in love" in the Spanish language, this isn't used, as the act of loving something or someone is not considered a "fall" since the act of falling hints to some negative connotations. We simply combine the word with the verb in time and the personal pronoun.


Yo amé, yo amo, yo amaré. = I loved, i love, i will love.

El amó, el ama, el amara. = He loved, he love, he will love.

Thank you, Drink. Also exactly what I was looking to know.

And that's especially interesting to me because I knew the word "querer" but I never knew it could be translated as "love" as well as "want." That's interesting.

And that reminds me of another use in English. "Making love" is another use, which is a more polite synonym for sex.

It's wild to me that the same word can be used to describe such different things as sex, romance, friendship, God, and a favorite restaurant! :-o
Abigail_Austin Topic Starter

Novalyyn wrote:

Boom indeed. Haha.

I read that whole article. Very interesting. I think 7 words makes more sense than one word. XD

I had heard of eros and agape. And that philia friendship type love. I had never heard of "pragma," or any of the others but boy I do think they've well described and unpacked the nuanced meaning of the word "love" in that article.

It's true -- the love of a parent for a child is very different than the love for a friend, for example...I think splitting it up the way they did is so much less confusing. Too bad we can't really use those terms and be like,

"I agape you,"

"I philia you"

"I storge you."

Lol!

It's also nice to see that they think it's normal for passionate love to, given enough time, turn into "storge" (less passionate, less conditional family-like love based on mutual dependence) and "pragma" (based on long term goals, shared values, etc) love. Because people often call that "falling out of love," but the article depicts it more like a transformation of one kind of love into another.

I also found it very interesting to read that the notion of romantic love might be only as old as the novel but that eros is closest to it. But that there was really nothing like that in literature before. Hm.
Abigail_Austin Topic Starter

Thank you all for your answers. :)
Abigail_Austin wrote:
Too bad we can't really use those terms and be like,

"I agape you,"

"I philia you"

"I storge you."

Psh, this is the generation that is verbing everything. Sure ya can! XD
Abigail_Austin Topic Starter

Novalyyn wrote:
Abigail_Austin wrote:
Too bad we can't really use those terms and be like,

"I agape you,"

"I philia you"

"I storge you."

Psh, this is the generation that is verbing everything. Sure ya can! XD

Hahahaha true! It doesn't have quite the same impact as "I love you," though, does it? And I'd have to explain it every time~

Nope I think I'm stuck with the more clunky phrases like, "I love you (but as a friend)" hehe. Or, "I love you like a brother/sister." But it's ok. :p

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