A DIFFERENT LOVE STORY ~

In Greek language, there are two main different meanings and words of love. The first one is “love” as the deep feelings of fondness, caring and constant commitment of one person to another. These feelings have strong roots and fundamentals on the common experiences, moments, years of building a couple’s story. A relationship of companionship. The second one is "eros", which corresponds to "I’m in love" in the English language. This word in Greek has the meaning of a passionate, enthusiastic heartbeat. Someone could describe it as a teenager’s love! So, in English we have one word: Love. In Greek we have 2 words-meanings: Love as companionship & Eros as passionate powerful crush on someone. If we try to analyze the vocabulary of different countries & dialects, we will be surprised by the deep differences of meanings we will reveal of same things. Mindsets as well. The power of words can delve into our perception, words are something more than letters in series. Do you know any word that has different meaning in another place or country? Or a word that cannot be found in any other language?

Maros, M. (n.d.). The Power of Your Words [Image]. Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life. https://peacefulmindpeacefullife.org/the-power-of-your-words/

This story about the meaning of love in different languages and cultures is just a chance to introduce the readers of this article into the topic: Words have power and different meanings in different cultures and contexts. One word might have a completely different meaning, view and perception into another country, location or situation. The vocabulary that humans use into their every day realities and lives, is quite often, one of the most usual habits of them, to the extent that they tend to speak and use words unconsciously without even questioning about their verbal or written choices. People have used so much their mother tongue, in a way that they cannot observe and analyze themselves from a distant view.

One of the most powerful ways for someone to analyze his mother tongue and his vocabulary habits, is through learning new languages. Meeting new vocabulary, new languages and new phrases, makes someone aware of the differences and the similarities with his own mother tongue. Exploring new cultures and contexts, someone is able to perceive better his own way of life and culture through comparison with different ways of life and communication. The reality is that communication includes many types, nonverbal and verbal. Body language and gestures are also types of communication.

Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the study of sign processes (semiosis), which are any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates a meaning that is not the sign itself to the sign's interpreter. The meaning can be intentional such as a word uttered with a specific meaning, or unintentional, such as a symptom being a sign of a particular medical condition. Signs can communicate through any of the senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or gustatory. The semiotic tradition explores the study of signs and symbols as a significant part of communications. Unlike linguistics, semiotics also studies non-linguistic sign systems. Semiotics includes the study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness, analogy, allegory, metonymy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.

Semiotics is frequently seen as having important anthropological and sociological dimensions; for example, the Italian semiotician and novelist Umberto Eco proposed that every cultural phenomenon may be studied as communication.[1] Some semioticians focus on the logical dimensions of the science, however. They examine areas belonging also to the life sciences—such as how organisms make predictions about, and adapt to, their semiotic niche in the world. In general, semiotic theories take signs or sign systems as their object of study: the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics (including zoosemiotics and phytosemiotics).

Berry, M. (2013). The Power Of Your Words. [Image]. The Honestly Adoption Company. https://honestlyadoption.com/the-power-of-your-words/

Through the differences of word of "love" between Greek and English language, we can analyze how these two different cultures perceive the same feeling and emotional state –phenomenon and how this affects their lives and what does this mean to them.

In Greek language, "love" is something different from "eros". Quite often, eros is the first stage between two people that makes them get to know each other better and start a relationship. It is powerful and it happens fast and suddenly. Time is no needed. From the opposite side, love is what happens to these two people after many years. Love is the final stage of their relationship. It is what remains of the powerful enthusiasm they had for each other, when they first met and start being together. Love is what their relationship created emotionally to them: a strong bond. This bonding might not be enough to keep them together forever, but will definitely make them care for each other forever.

To conclude, words have not only power, but also history and roots, they carry memories and feelings. Spoken language is a human creation. It carries the human evolution. It carries their culture, their past, their history, their reality and their dreams. A love that will last forever is the human dream in many fairytales and movies. It describes the stages within a relationship of two people and the evolution of their emotions during their common life.

Sources:

· Wikipedia contributors. (2021, August 4). Semiotics. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics

· Berry, M. (2020, September 12). The Power Of Your Words. The Honestly Adoption Company. https://honestlyadoption.com/the-power-of-your-words/

· Broadwell. (n.d.). Linguistic Anthropology. Anthropology. Retrieved August 15, 2021, from https://anthro.ufl.edu/about-us/department-subfields/linguistic-anthropology/

· Wilce, J. M. (2013). Current Emotion Research in Linguistic Anthropology. Emotion Review, 6(1), 77–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073913501396