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Speculation is invited by the fact that the Sumerian word for love, ki-ag, means 'to measure the earth'. One idea is that it may derive from the expansive feeling of love (cf., Elizabeth Browning's How Do I Love Thee?). The other possibility is that ancient man's intimate knowledge of animals and their defense of the family and its realm, coupled with his identification with them, led to an association of love with territoriality and possession.