1. BELIEVE
In Old English, believe was geliefan, which traces back to the Germanic galaubjan, where laub is the root for "dear" (so "believe" is "to hold dear"). Laub goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root for "love," leubh.
2. FURLOUGH
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
We got furlough from the Dutch verlof, which traces back to the same Germanic laub root as in believe. It is also related to the sense of leave meaning allowance or permission ("get leave," "go on leave"). The "leave" in a furlough is given with pleasure, or approval, which is how it connects back to love.
3. FRIDAY
Old English Frigedæg was named for Frigg, the Germanic goddess of love (and counterpart to the Roman Venus). According to the OED, frīg was also a noun for "strong feminine" love.
4. VENOM
Venom comes from the Latin venenum, which shares a root with love-goddess Venus, and originally referred to a love potion.
5. AMATEUR
The root of amateur is Latin amare, "to love." An amateur practices a craft simply because they love it.
6. CHARITY
The Latin caritas, which ended up as charity in English, was a different kind of love than amor, implying high esteem and piety, rather than romance and passion. It was used to translate the Ancient Greek agape, the word used in the New Testament to express godly love.
7. PHILOSOPHY
Greek had another word for love, philia, that — in contrast to agape and eros (sexual love) — meant brotherly or friendly love. It's used in many classical compounds to signify general fondness or predilection for things. Philosophy is the love of sophos, wisdom.
8. PHILANTHROPY
Love of anthropos, humanity.
9. PHILADELPHIA
You might know it as the "city of brotherly love," but you might not know that the tagline is right there in the name. It's love for adelphos, brother.
10. PHILIP
The name Philip comes from the compound phil- + hippos, love of horses.
11. ACIDOPHILUS
Have you been taking acidophilus probiotic supplements for digestive health? It's made from acid-loving bacteria, i.e., bacteria that easily take up an acid dye for viewing under the microscope.
