ἀγάπη

Agápē in classical Greek was not a common word. It appeared rarely before the New Testament, where it became the defining term for divine love. The translators of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament, produced in the third century BCE — chose agápē where Hebrew had ahavah (love). The word was available but obscure. Christianity filled it with specific meaning: love that is unconditional, sacrificial, and not dependent on the qualities of the beloved.

The New Testament distinction between agápē and other Greek love words became foundational to Christian theology. Éros was romantic desire. Philía was friendship between equals. Storgḗ was family affection. Agápē was different: it loved regardless of merit. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 13) defines it: 'Love is patient, love is kind.' When the King James Bible translated this passage, it used 'charity' rather than 'love' — from Latin cāritās. Modern translations restored 'love.'

The distinction between agápē and éros shaped Western thought about love for two millennia. Anders Nygren's Agape and Eros (1930) argued that the two forms of love were fundamentally opposed: éros sought the worthy, agápē loved the unworthy. This dichotomy influenced Protestant theology deeply. Catholic thinkers like Pope Benedict XVI (Deus Caritas Est, 2005) argued that the two could coexist.

English borrowed 'agape' (lowercase, pronounced differently) as an adjective meaning 'wide open' — as in 'mouth agape.' This is a completely different word, from Old Norse á gap (gaping). The Greek love word and the Norse gaping word share a spelling but nothing else. English has two words spelled 'agape.' One means unconditional love. The other means your mouth is hanging open.