by Cody Hedges
“The name of love,” wrote Voltaire, “is given boldly to any caprice lasting a few days, a sentiment without esteem, affectations, a frigid habit, a romantic fantasy, or relish followed by disdain.” It would appear in modern culture, that use of the word love signifies a variety of different types of emotions and relationships. We describe a “frigid habit,” like a thoughtless peck on your mother’s cheek with the same language we describe a drunken hookup, or a dreamlike fantasy. It’s love. The ancient Greeks, on the other hand, had several words for our one word – love. They also had a word for the sound of a butterfly’s flapping wings. And it makes me wonder.
If the language of a culture is any indication of the objects and experiences with which it is concerned, it can be said of the Greeks that they paid special attention to the different ways in which they felt and behaved towards one another (and of course that they liked butterflies).
Perhaps it follows that we moderns do not? So, this Valentine’s Day, take a moment to think about all the relationships in your life that might deserve their own special language, and acknowledge them; your partner, your best friend, your role models, your colleagues, even the acquaintances you regularly speak to on the bus ride to work. Show them you care, even if you don’t have the words for it.
