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Words for love or other intimate relationships

de FreeXenon, 31 august 2010

Contribuții/Mesaje: 8

Limbă: English

FreeXenon (Arată profil) 31 august 2010, 15:25:35

I am sure that many of us have studied at least a little bit of linguistics relating to our Esperanto studies, and I have recently found an article on a specific theory that I have heard of before during my reading "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?".

Now, I am in involved in various forms of online activism and I am thinking that English's words for love and other intimate relationships may have a really large affect on how we view our intimate relationships. We have one word - love - that can be used for everything - cats, spouses, children, our favorite book, chees, etc.

I am curious what you think about this? I am also curious about those words that other languages have to describe these intimate relationships or passionate feelings of various sorts? Perhaps there may be a correlation between the number of words and the openness or lack thereof of people who natively speak a specific language?

Thanks all for your feedback.

Pk_JoA (Arată profil) 31 august 2010, 17:14:35

That always has surprised me about English language: You only have one word for "love", and you use it in so many and different situations. Sometimes it can lead to confusion.

In Spanish (my mother tongue) we have at least two words which would be a correct translation for "love", according to the case:

"Querer" (to love or to want). (For example: "Te quiero"="I love you"; "Quiero una torta"="I want a cake").

It is, probably, the best translation for "to love" in the majority of cases.

"Amar" (to really love or to really like something). For example: "Te amo" (I really love you) or "Amo esto" (I really love/like this)

This word is probably more serious than "querer", and you only say that to people really close to you: Close family; girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/etc and maybe really close friends.

Of course there are other words to express feelings of love and intimate relationships, as "gustar" (wich would be like "to like" in English, but when said to a person, it is almost always in a romantic sense), but those are the most important.

Sorry if my explanation is a little confusing ridulo.gif.

Ĝis!

Miland (Arată profil) 31 august 2010, 17:52:35

The Greeks had four words for it. Here's a wiki article.

sudanglo (Arată profil) 31 august 2010, 22:09:32

Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.
How true, but despite my knowledge of French - in which I must distinguish between intimate 'tu' and distant 'vous' - I have no feeling at all, when I speak English and use the single option 'you', about my relationship to the other person.

And when I speak Esperanto in which the distinction between 'What has she done' and 'What did she do' is fused into the single 'Kion ŝi faris' the feeling is just one of expressing my thought, not of expressing an ambiguity.

Almost certainly there are words and phrase in English that have a more general meaning and could be more specifically expressed (in English).

The feeling in using the general word or expression is surely not of two thoughts or an ambiguity.

I heard a child say today 'I can jump higher than a lamp-post'.

Did you get two images in your mind at the same time?

If your first thought was why two images, then let me tell you the Mother's reply - 'You can't say that because lamp-posts can't jump'.

KetchupSoldier (Arată profil) 1 septembrie 2010, 01:55:12

sudanglo:How true, but despite my knowledge of French - in which I must distinguish between intimate 'tu' and distant 'vous' - I have no feeling at all, when I speak English and use the single option 'you', about my relationship to the other person.
I've felt the same way! In English, it's you, you, you, you, you. In French, there's a much different social context. I actually appreciate that I can be casual with someone I've never met by addressing them with "tu" from the get-go (met a guy around my age from Dijon at a dance with my friends). In English, it's so much more difficult to communicate "Hey, it's okay, we're all just people here."

Does anyone wish English had kept "thou"? It would come in handy for social situations.

FreeXenon (Arată profil) 1 septembrie 2010, 15:44:09

Very Interesting, especially the Greek words.

Pk_JoA: your English is great! I understood completely. =)

For those of you who are much more knowledgeable than I, does Esperanto have words for these Greek words or other similar words?

Miland (Arată profil) 1 septembrie 2010, 16:02:38

The general term amo means the same as 'love' in other languages. In terms of the Four Loves, I am translating what I believe is the English meanings of the Greek words since I haven't studied classical Greek. Natural affection could be korinklino or afekcio. Friendship is amikeco. Erotic love is amoro. Unselfish love is karitato.

3rdblade (Arată profil) 2 septembrie 2010, 21:46:36

I've noticed English speakers using the expression 'love love' (or 'love love') in those moments when there might be some confusion about whether the love is romantic/erotic or the general kind. eg:

"I love her. Not love love..."

One a related note to the original post, the idea of E-Prime might be of interest.

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