by Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Romantic: marked by expressions of love or affection; conducive to or suitable for lovemaking; a person of romantic temperament or disposition (noun)
We associate this word with sweetness and love, but it emerged from the conquering powers of the Roman Empire. The expansion of ancient Rome created various dialects of Latin called “romans.” (These evolved into Italian, French, Spanish, and others – the Romance languages.)
“Romans” were used to write popular stories involving chivalric or courtly love, and such tales became known as romances. If we describe Rome today as a “romantic” city, we’re using a word that has travelled a long way to come home.
Valentine: a sweetheart chosen or complimented on Valentine’s Day; a gift or greeting sent on this day
Christianity has more than one martyr named Valentine, and the one, true Valentine is uncertain. Romantics favor the tale of the third-century Roman physician and priest Valentine. Supposedly, Valentine had fallen in love with his jailer’s daughter, and shortly before his death sent a letter to her “from your Valentine.”
A valentine may hold different significance for different people, depending on the state of one’s romantic affairs.
Amour: a usually illicit love affair
Amour has been in English use, as a word, since the 14th century (as a concept it certainly dates back much further). Middle-English borrowed it from Anglo-French; we’ve taken a additional number of amour phrases from the French, including amour propre, amour courtois and amour fou (“mad love; obsessive passion”).
Adonis: a very handsome young man
In Greek mythology, the beautiful young Adonis was beloved by both Persephone and Aphrodite, so Zeus decreed the young man should divide his time and attention between the two goddesses. He was later killed by a wild boar – an attack that may have been arranged to avenge another of Adonis’ romantic intrigues.
Aphrodisiac: something that excites; an agent that arouses or is held to arouse sexual desire
Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love (who was infatuated with Adonis) gave the Greeks the words ‘aphrodisia’ (heterosexual pleasure) and ‘aphrodisiakos’ (a gem with aphrodisiac powers). Our earliest record of aphrodisiac comes from Théophile Bonet’s A guide to the practical physician, in 1686 (“Aphrodisiacks take away also that impotency that is caused by Witchery”).
Infatuation: foolish or extravagant love or admiration
An infatuation, by definition, is an emotion that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The word’s etymology makes the same point. It traces back to the Latin for “foolish” or “silly,” as does fatuous (“complacently or inanely foolish“) and fatuity (“something foolish, silly, absurd, or stupid, such as an action”).
Casanova: lover, especially a man who is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover
In the 1700s, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was a spy, a clergyman, a gambler, and apparently a man of considerable charm. He was also a writer, and his autobiographical musings about his more than 100 lovers made his name a byword for a man who loves too much.
Unrequited: not reciprocated or returned in kind
Sometimes love is requited, and sometimes it is not, a division that is brought into stark relief for some on Valentine’s Day. To requite (a somewhat quaint term) is to give or do something in return for something that another person has given or done (the word comes from the now obsolete quite, meaning “to quit, pay”).
Saccharine: overly sentimental; mawkish; unpleasantly sweet
Boxes of candy covered with cupids and hearts might, for some people, have a saccharine quality – both in sentiment and taste. For others, romantic and sugary excess is essential to Valentine’s Day. Either way, saccharine comes from saccharum, Latin for “sugar.” The word dates back to the 1600s. The calorie-free sweetener saccharin (without an e) arrived a couple hundred years later.
Sweetheart: darling; one who is loved
The Greeks and Egyptians believed the heart was the center of the emotions. English speakers borrowed the idea, and sweet + heart has been a term of endearment – particularly for romantic love – since the Middle Ages. If you don’t care for sweetheart as a term of endearment, our language has a number of synonyms to choose from, including puggy, chookie, pigsney, dowsabel and bully (note: some of the aforementioned words are regionalisms or archaic).
Commercialize: to debase in quality for more profit
When commercialize came into use in the early 19th century it did not initially have the tang of disapproval to it; the word first simply meant “to manage on a business basis for profit.” We have an old tradition of commercializing holidays, and a tradition that is almost as old of complaining about this commercialization. Our earliest citation in which someone bemoans this commercial cheapening of Valentine’s Day comes from more than a hundred years ago.
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