Happy Valentine’s Day to lovers — especially word-lovers!

I’m sure that doesn’t sound too romantic; but you might be surprised at the many love-related terms that permeate our language.

In part, this is because so much English derives from Greek and Latin, with both languages offering several base-words for love.

Perhaps the best-known of these are am- (Latin) and phil- (Greek), which have given us literally hundreds of English words.

Am-, for instance, is found in such common terms as amiable, amorous and paramour, not to mention foreign phrases like mon amour (“my love”) and of course the crooner-classic tune “That’s Amore!”

Some of these examples show how am- can also be used in the sense of friend. (For examples: amity, amicable and, in law, an amicus brief.) Since many other languages also lean on Latin, am- has likewise generated well-known foreign terms — like the Spanish amigo and the French mon ami (“my friend”).

And believe it or not, this little base also gave us enemy!

There, the en- is a negative prefix (similar to “in-”), while am has been similarly respelled with an E. That’s also where we get the related term enmity; both words indicate a resounding lack of love.

But perhaps the most surprising etymology from am- is amateur — meaning a person who does something out of love, as opposed to professionals, who do it for money.

This idea may also be responsible for the odd use of love to mean zero in a tennis score.

For years, one prevalent theory insisted that this was an Anglicization of the French l’oeuf, meaning “egg” — which of course resembles the figure 0. However, there is little evidence that French folks ever used “egg” as slang for “nothing.” So love in tennis probably comes from the fact that amateurs, playing only out of fondness, would be more likely to score zero points! (My thanks to Merriam-Webster for this info.)

I had planned to cover phil- in this column as well, but we’re running low on space, so let’s save that for Valentine’s 2025. I’ll close instead with word-related thoughts on kissing:

Somewhat understandably, English offers dozens of slang terms for this entertaining activity: peck, smooch, neck, make out and in texts, an “X” or two. Or three. (Or ten.)

Among the more amusing slang synonyms are the British snog, made famous by Louise Rennison’s uproarious novels about boy-crazy teen Georgia Nicholson — the first of which is titled: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.

I also love osculate. (Or should I say “love to” … ?)

Commonly used as a verb, osculate usually means “to come close” — but it can be used for kiss; in fact, its Latin origin does mean exactly that.

May I also throw in canoodle, though that generally involves cuddling and caressing as well. Incidentally, no one is sure of this word’s origin; possibly from “noodle,” says Dictionary.com — though this connection is perhaps best left unexplored in a family newspaper.

And last but not least comes another sadly neglected synonym: buss.

I always thought this came from the French bouche, meaning “mouth” (as in embouchure, for you musicians out there). But the Online Etymology Dictionary indicates it is likely imitative of sound, especially since “B” is made with lips. In fact, OED points out that many other languages have a similar-sounding word for kiss, including buz in Spanish and busa in Persian.

So pucker up and get your lips ready not only to osculate, but also to tell your love how you feel.

Yes, words might seem a nerdy topic; but in terms of romantic expression, they have to be at least as important as kissing, right?

OK, I’m not asking for mail on that. But this Valentine’s Day, neither am I suggesting you should keep your mouth shut.