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ACROSS TIME AND ACROSS CULTURES, the human mind has grappled with the complexities of love. From ancient eras to the present day and in every country throughout the globe, attempts have been made to capture the essence of this innate, universal emotion. Language itself attests to this continuing centuries-old search. The sheer abundance of semantic modulations—present in ancient Greek and modern English alike—exists as evidence of our desire to define and to encompass love's varied meanings.
Ancient tongues clearly divulge the multiplicitous nature of love. The Greeks made a distinction between "eros" (sexual love, hence the English word "erotic") and "agape" agáph (the love that flourishes between friends or family members), as well as many other expressions. In the Hebrew language, numerous words were employed to describe love, in its sexual, familial, and also specifically theological connotations. The Israelite view of spiritual love spoke of the "reciprocal affection of God and people, " and indicated a unique form of love that was pure, intense, selfless, and faithful.1
The Latin word "amo" covers a range of meanings, from passionate love to brotherly love to the love between God and man and even to self-love. Rooted in the ancient Sanskrit "sam" or "kam, "2 this Latin formation finds present usage most familiarly in the French "amour" and, by logical association, in all the Romanic languages. (And the French, like the Germans, are careful to show the difference between the verbs "to love" and "to fall in love.") Interestingly, "sam" (and the Latin "similis") also surfaces in modern languages, for example, in the German "sammt" and