plop --
I appreciate your offer not to punish the messenger if the message
ends up costing you $5.00. I will let you and your friend decide
whether my research has settled the issue, but here is what I have
turned up.
"Storge" (pronounced "stor-gay") is a word derived from the Greek and
has the meaning that your friend ascribes to the word that you have
spelled "storgae" in your question.
According to the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
(Oxford University Press, 1971), "storge" means: "Natural affection;
usually, that of parents for their offspring." It is derived from a
Greek word meaning "to have natural affection to, to love." The
earliest English usage of the word that is cited in that dictionary is
from 1637.
A Google search for "storge" and "love" returns about 2000 "hits."
The word most often seems to be used currently in the context of
Christianity and psychology. Here is an example of its use on the
website of a Christian congregation:
Lighthouse of Faith Community Church
http://www.lhfcc.org/archives/2002/s.may.html
And here is an example from an outline of a college psychology course:
Interpersonal Attraction
http://www.unc.edu/~coolsen/psych33/attractionoutline.html
Many similar examples can be found at this link to Google search
results:
Google Search Results: storge love
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=storge+love
Additional Links:
In the course of searching on Google for various alternative spellings
of the word you have been looking for, I discovered some instances of
the use by religious groups of alternative spellings of the correct
term, "storge."
"Storgae." The spelling proposed in your question yields almost all
misspellings of "storage," and only one case of the term being used to
mean a form of love:
The Sisterhood: Big Sis
http://spiritual.planetwisdom.com/sisterhood/bigsis/iloveyou.cfm
"Storga." A similar search for "Storga" and "love" turned up less
that fifty relevant "hits," the vast majority of which are references
to the motto of a nursing honorary society. Here is an example:
The UTHSCSA School of Nursing
Sigma Theta Tau International
http://nursing.uthscsa.edu/stti/History.shtml
This is also the spelling that is used in an article posted on the
website of Jews For Jesus:
Hollywood: The City Of Lost Angels, by Jhan Moskowitz
http://www.jfjonline.org/pub/issues/11-05/hollywood.htm
"Stergo." A search for "stergo" and "love" turned up about 50
relevant "hits," virtually all of which were links to websites of
Christian groups.
Search Strategy:
Google Search Terms:
storgae love
storga love
stergo love
"greek words for love"
storge love
Print Sources:
Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
The bottom line is that there is a word very much like "storgae" that
means filial love, but it is "storge," not "storgae." If you either
lose the argument with your friend under these circumtances, or
concede it, I sorry to have been the one to bring you the bad news. I
do thank you again, however, for promising not to punish the bearer of
bad tidings.
If any of the above needs clarification or if any of the links don't
work, please let me know.
markj-ga |
