THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A KISS.
A German Lover’s Definition of the Contact of Lips Puts Modern Lexicographers to Shame—How Monks Viewed It.
A German Lover’s Definition of the Contact of Lips Puts Modern Lexicographers to Shame—How Monks Viewed It.
A German Lover’s Definition of the Contact of Lips Puts Modern Lexicographers to Shame—How Monks Viewed It.
The dictionary informs the breathless seeker after truth that a kiss is “a form of salutation expressed by the contact, with pressure, of the lips”—which definition, though clear and concise, seems to leave something to be desired.
Jonathan Swift testily remarks: “Lord! I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing”—and many more are the disgruntled speeches which have been made by men and women ever since the art first became known on earth.
It is probable that every mother’s son of us—and daughter, too—has some sort of idea of what a kiss is, in spite of the reticence of the language Solons, but it is doubtful if any one ever clothed the idea more appropriately than the lover who in 1679 wrote the epistle from which the following extract is taken. It is translated from the German.
What is a kiss? A kiss is, as it were, a seal expressing our sincere attachment: the pledge of our future union; a dumb, but at the same time audible, language of a living heart; a present, which at the same time it is given is taken from us; the impression of an ardent attachment on an ivory coral press; the striking of two flints against one another; a crimson balsam for a love-wounded heart; a sweet bite of the lip; an affectionate pinching of the mouth; a delicious dish which is eaten with scarlet spoons; a sweetmeat which does not satisfy hunger; a fruit which is planted and gathered at the same time; the quickest exchange of questions and answers of two lovers; the fourth degree of love.
The monks of the Middle Ages divided the kiss into fifteen distinct and separate orders—the decorous, or modest kiss; the diplomatic, or kiss of policy; the spying kiss, to ascertain if a woman has drunk wine; the slave kiss; the kiss infamous—a church penance; the slipper kiss, practised toward tyrants; the judicial kiss; the feudal kiss; the religious kiss (kissing the cross); the academical kiss (or joining a solemn brotherhood), the hand kiss; the Judas kiss; the medical kiss—for the purpose of healing some sickness; the kiss of etiquette; the kiss of love—the only real kiss.