Dramatis Personæ:
Akira Rabelais, Ben Frost, Harold Budd,
Mélanie Skriabine, Kassel Jaeger,
Karen Vogt, Cedrick Coriolis,
Geir Jenssen, Bogdan D. Smith, and Stephan Mathieu

Photos: Bogdan D. Smith

Forms: 1 lufu, (lufo), 2–4 luve, 3 lou, 4, 6 loove, 5 louf, loof, 4–5 lof, lofe, 5 luf, lufue, (Sc. 4–6 luf(e, luff, 5, 8 luffe, 6 luif(e, 6, 8 luve, 6 luwe, luyf, luiff, lwiff, loif), 3– love.

[OE. lufu str. fem. (also declined weak) = OHG. luba:—Teut. type *luƀâ, not found elsewhere, though Goth. has (brôþru-)lubô wk. fem., love, and lubains (stem -aini-) str. fem., hope; f. the weak-grade of the Teut. root *leuƀ-: lauƀ-: luƀ-:—OAryan *leubh-: loubh-: lubh-. Other derivatives of the wk.-grade are OS. lubig loving, and the Com. Teut. *luƀo-m, *loƀo-m lof and its derivative *loƀôjan love v.2; also OHG. gilob precious. Cognates belonging to the other grades of the root (1) from the eu grade, Com. Teut. *liuƀo- lief a., and its derivatives OHG. liobôn (MHG., mod.G. lieben), Du. lieven (obs., superseded by liefhebben lit. ‘to have dear’), OE. léofian, MDu. lieven, OHG. *liubên (MHG. lieben) to be dear or agreeable, OHG. liuben (MHG. lieben) to endear, to show kindness; MDu., Du. liefde fem., love; OHG. liubî wk. fem., liuba str. fem. (MHG. liebe), MDu. lieve fem., love; (2) from the au grade, the Teut. types *lauƀâ, *galauƀon-, *galauƀjan, etc. (see leave n.1, belief, believe v.).
   Outside Teut. the Aryan root is represented by L. lubet (libet) it is pleasing, lubīdo (libīdo) desire, OSl. ljubŭ dear, ljuby love, ljubiti to love, Skr. lubh to desire, lōbha masc. desire.]

1. a.1.a That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his or her presence and desire for his or her approval; warm affection, attachment. Const. of, for, to, towards.

   c 825 Vesp. Psalter cviii. 5 Settun wið me yfel fore godum & laeððu fore lufan minre.    c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xv. 13 Næfð nan man maran lufe þonne ðeos ys þæt hwa sylle his lif for his freondum.    c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 8 And to alle cristenei men beren pais and luue bi-twen.    a 1300 Cursor M. 20300 Vre leuedi wep, saint iohan alsua, Treu luue was omang þam tua.    1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 155 Wommen moste be ouercome with fairenesse and loue, and nouȝt wiþ sternesse and drede.    c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 2 What lufe he had til his sugets.    1470–85 Malory Arthur i. viii. 44 He wende that al the kynges & knyghtes had come for grete loue and to haue done hym worship at his feste.    1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. i. 26 Thy loue hath bene more speciall vnto me, then the loue of wemen.    1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound sans cracke or flaw.    1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Pref., Adiuring me by the loue of my contrie.    1611 Bible Dan. i. 9 God had brought Daniel into fauour and tender loue with the Prince of the Eunuches.    1765 Cowper in Southey Life & Wks. (1835) I. 155 My heart was full of love to all the congregation.    1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 346 The natural love which Thomas Kirby bore to his brother.    1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 279 His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath.    1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 2 They should prove their love of him whom they had not seen, by love of their brothers whom they had seen.

b.1.b Viewed as an abstract quality or principle. (Sometimes personified.)

   c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 343/32 Affectu, for hylde and lufe.    a 1300 Cursor M. 99 O reuth o loue and charite, Was neuer hir mak.    1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. i. 146 For trewthe telleþ þat loue is triacle of heuene.    1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 135 Humylite Engendryth lowe that destrueth envy and hatredyn.    1557 Seager Sch. Vertue 815 in Babees Bk., Loue doth moue the mynde to mercie.    a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 8 Love and hatred are‥the great Lords and Masters, that divide the rest of the affections between them.    1811 Coleridge 7 Lect. (1856) 70 Love is a desire of the whole being to be united to some thing, or some being, felt necessary to its completeness.

c.1.c In particularized use: An instance of affection. †Also, an act of kindness.

   c 1000 Prayers of Exeter Bk. iv. 115 Wæs a cearu symle lufena to leane.    c 1200 Moral Ode 314 in Trin. Coll. Hom., Þe þe þos two luues halt and wile hes wel healde.    1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 49 What good loue may I performe for you?    1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 189, I met with an English ship‥whose loues I cannot easily forget.    a 1853 Robertson Lect. i. (1858) 25 The same feelings and anxieties and loves.

†d.1.d In OE. (contrasted with laᴁu law): Amicable settlement, as opposed to litigation. Hence, in later use, occas. rendering L. fœdus treaty, covenant. Also, under love and law; a phrase used to denote the position of being a member of a frankpledge. Obs.

   a 1000 Laws of Æthelred iii. c. 13 §1 (Schmid) And þar þeᴁen aᴁe tweᴁen costas lufe oþþe laᴁe and he þonne lufe ᴁeceose.    1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 99 Oreb‥the mownte of fere and of luffe [L. mons terroris et fœderis].    Ibid. II. 347, IV. 123.    a 1500 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 90 Yf ther bee ony persone wythin the warde that is not vnder francpledge that is to saye under loue and lawe.