amor (Catalan)
Where does "amor" come from?
The Catalan word 'amor' derives directly from the Latin 'amōrem,' carrying the same meaning of love. Its roots stretch much further back to a Proto-Indo-European term meaning 'to grasp' or 'to seize,' which eventually evolved through the Proto-Italic 'amō' to mean 'to take by the hand' before finally shifting to 'to love.'
Full etymology tree
- amor (Catalan), 'love'
- inherited amōrem (Latin), 'accusative singular of amor'
- inherited amor (Latin), 'love, affection, devotion (for a person, one's family, one's country)'
- derived amō (Latin), 'to love'
- inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
- inherited *h₃emh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grab, to grasp, to seize, to take hold, tackle, touch'
- inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
- suffix -or (Latin), 'used to form an abstract noun from a verb root or conceived root form'
- derived amō (Latin), 'to love'
- inherited amor (Latin), 'love, affection, devotion (for a person, one's family, one's country)'
- inherited amōrem (Latin), 'accusative singular of amor'
Ancestors
- amor (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- amor platònic (Catalan)
- desamor (Catalan)
- per l'amor de Déu (Catalan)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris