The Story of “Love”

These days it is easy to divide people based on religion, language, race, or culture. Suspicion, coldness, and even violence often replace compassion and connection. In such times, it is worth remembering that we are deeply interconnected. Even our words carry this truth. Take the word love, for example—a word spoken in daily life across the world, even in places where English is not the dominant language. Its history shows how deeply cultures have always been connected.

The English love has roots stretching back thousands of years. In Old English (8th century), it appeared as lufu, drawn from Proto-Germanic lubo. Further back, it comes from the Proto-Indo-European root leubh- (2000–3000 BC), meaning “to care, to desire, to love.” From this single root, the word branched into many languages across cultures and centuries:

• Sanskrit (2000–1500 BC): lubhyati — to desire
• Greek (8th century BC): leibein — to care or to hold dear
• Latin (7th century BC onward): lubet/libet — it pleases; later amor — love
• Gothic (4th century AD): lubō — affection
• Old High German (6th century AD): luba — love or joy
• Old Norse (8th century AD): lof — praise, affection
• Old French (9th century AD): amour — passion, affection

Each culture added a layer of meaning, shaping the word as it traveled across time and place. What we say today as love is not the creation of one people alone, but the fruit of many.

Seen in this light, love is more than an emotion or a concept—it is a shared inheritance. Its history tells us that just as words are shaped by many tongues, so too are we shaped by countless lives, exchanges, and connections.

In a world of division, the story of love reminds us that we belong to one another. Love—both in essence and in language—has always been the thread that binds humanity together.