Romance
A multifaceted concept of love with varied and contradictory definitions.
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Romance and romantic love encompass interrelated ideas about love that have historical and cultural roots.[1]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Cultural concept
- psychology
- literature
- Known for
- Idealization of love relationships
- individualistic choice in marriage
- and the literary tradition of courtly love
- Related terms
- Aromantic
- courtly love
- limerence
- passionate love
Facts from the source article.
How it changed
The meaning of romantic love has changed considerably throughout history.[2] After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Latin adverb Romanice came to mean "in the vernacular" for languages derived from Latin.[3] Romantic love flourished as a basis for marriage at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th.[4] Only starting in the 18th century did society encourage people to choose marriage partners based on romantic attachments.[5]
The 20th century saw a "transformation of intimacy" where laws, customs, and morals imposed fewer restrictions on personal relationships.[6]
What the maker and period sources say
The philosopher Arthur Lovejoy once wrote that "The word 'romantic' has come to mean so many things that, by itself, it means nothing".[7] According to the psychotherapist Robert Johnson, Western culture conflates romance and love based on confusion over terms.[2] Sigmund Freud believed romantic love was generated by suppressed sexual desire, requiring obstacles to heighten libido.[8][9] Collins Dictionary defines romantic love as "an intensity and idealization of a love relationship, in which the other is imbued with extraordinary virtue, beauty, etc., so that the relationship overrides all other considerations, including material ones."[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: : "English dictionaries distinguish 'romantic' with several definitions, but in reality, such tidy divisions are misleading. When we use the word, these differe; Karandashev, "What Is Romantic Love?", The Diversity of Love Journal, 12 March 2022; Jary, "Collins Dictionary of Sociology", HarperCollins, 2000, p. 525; "Ah, 'Romance': A Word Borne to English on the Breastplates of Chivalry", Merriam-Webster (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: : "English dictionaries distinguish 'romantic' with several definitions, but in reality, such tidy divisions are misleading. When we use the word, these differe; : "The word romantic love is often used to distinguish from conjugal love, parental love, friendship love, and other types of close relationships. In this meani; ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ah, 'Romance': A Word Borne to English on the Breastplates of Chivalry", Merriam-Webster; Burgess, "Medieval Chivalric Romance", ThoughtCo, 12 May 2025; : "Until the end of the 18th century, "romantic" had been used, in several languages, to denote matters pertaining to romance and the roman, that is, to the gen (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Klawans, "When did marriage begin?", The Week, 2007-01-01; "The History of Romance", National Women's History Museum, 2017-02-13; ; ; ; ; (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Klawans, "When did marriage begin?", The Week, 2007-01-01. facts only, no text reused. theweek.com
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Karandashev, "What Is Romantic Love?", The Diversity of Love Journal, 12 March 2022; McGill, "Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior", Springer, Cham, 2023, p. 1–4; : "English dictionaries distinguish 'romantic' with several definitions, but in reality, such tidy divisions are misleading. When we use the word, these differe; : "The word romantic love is often used to distinguish from conjugal love, parental love, friendship love, and other types of close relationships. In this meani; : "[I]t was only after several years of work that I b en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Freud, "The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud Vol.11: Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis Leonardo Da Vinci & Other Works", National Geographic Books, 2001-10-01, p. 187–188; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Romance" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jary, "Collins Dictionary of Sociology", HarperCollins, 2000, p. 525; Jary, "Collins Dictionary of Sociology", HarperCollins, 2000, p. 525 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Romance (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Romance (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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