Page:The art of kissing (IA artofkissing987wood).djvu/7

 THE ART OF KISSING

I THE ORIGIN OF KISSING

Defining a Kiss.—The most helpful dictionary, before attempting the tough task of defining a word, gives us the names of its father and mother, and often of its grandparents, as well as something of the history of its wanderings. We shall take our cue from the dictionary, and see what kiss and its synonyms came from. Kiss, that enchanter's magical wand conjuring up the entrance to the temple of the highest physical pleasure, comes from the Anglo-Saxon coss, a kiss; and is, by general gossip, descended from the Gothic kustus, a proof or test, which in turn is a close relative of the Latin gustus, a taste. It is also kin to the Anglo-Saxon coesan, to choose. We have so far, then, a test, a taste, and a choice, all involved in the pleasant idea of a kiss.

There are only a few other words in English with the same meaning. The antiquated buss is of uncertain origin, a byblow of unknown race; although it is clearly close to the Bavarian bussen, to kiss, and may be related to the Spanish and Portuguese buz, a kiss of reverence, which seems to have come from the Turkish bus, Persian busa, and Hindu bosa, a kiss. Some words, you see, roam further than the distance from Lake Kissimmee, Florida,