# philematology
## English
### Etymology

From Danish filematologi, from Ancient Greek φῐ́λημᾰ (phílēma, “a kiss”) + ologi (equivalent to English -ology), but compare the New Latin philēmatologiā, which appears written in Greek as φιληματολογία in the title of a 1659 book.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fĭlē'mətŏʹləji, IPA: /fɪˌlɪməˈtɒləd͡ʒi/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /fɪˌləməˈtɑləd͡ʒi/
* Hyphenation: phi‧le‧ma‧to‧lo‧gy

### Noun

philematology (uncountable)
* The scientific study of kissing. [from 1901]
** 1901, Christopher Nyrop, “Love Kisses”, in William Frederick Harvey, transl., The Kiss and Its History, London: Sands & Co., 12 Burleigh Street, Strand, →OCLC, page 49:The Italians use the expression baciare co' denti (kiss with the teeth) to signify "to love." We can only treat these kisses as a sort of transitional link, of shorter or longer duration, according to circumstances. They are, as it were, "a sea fraught with perils," which in Mlle. [Madeleine] de Scudéry's celebrated letter (la carte de tendre), carries one to strange countries (les terres inconnues); but, as these countries lie outside the regions of pure philematology, I shall not pursue my investigations further.
** 2010, Michael J. Rosen, Ben Kassoy, M. Sweeney Lawless, “Waking Up on the Right Side of the Bed”, in Any Body’s Guess!: Quirky Quizzes about What Makes You Tick, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, page 170:Although philematology (the art and science of lip-locking) remains largely unstudied, researchers have proven that kissing not only decreases levels of cortisol, a chemical that creates stress, but also increases oxytocin, a chemical that heightens feelings of affection and potentially fights depression and disease.
** 2011, Nicole Conn, Elena Undone, Tallahassee, Fla.: Bella Books, →ISBN:"Now the flip side of this whole kissing as exercise thing is that, like, hundreds of bacteria are exchanged in a kiss—so you know …" she extended her arms in a balancing gesture, "it's all risk-benefit and yeah, all in the name of philematology—that's the actual scientific term used for the study of kissing. Oh and get this, a woman has usually kissed about seventy-nine men before she finally settles and gets married."
** 2013, Marcel Danesi, The History of the Kiss!: The Birth of Popular Culture (Semiotics and Popular Culture), New York, N.Y., Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN:There's a lot riding on a kiss, as work in philematology suggests, since the act appears to set off a complex set of chemical reactions that enhance romantic feelings and make physical acts like sexual intercourse much more meaningful.

#### Derived terms

* philematologist

#### Related terms

* philemaphobia

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ First used in a translation of a Danish work: Kristoffer Nyrop (1897) Kysset og dets historie (in Danish), København: det Nordiske forlag, →OCLC, pages 10 (Hvad er et kys?) and 45 (Elskovskys):Af osculum afledes ordene oskulologi, læren om kys, og oskulologisk, hvad der vedrører kys. Man bør dog måske foretrække de helt græske dannelser filematologi og filematologisk. […] Dorat, der må anses for en fremragende autoritet i filematologi, siger udtrykkeligt: Un second baiser peut guérir / Le mal qu’un premier t’a pu faire.Christopher Nyrop, William Frederick Harvey, transl. (1901) The Kiss and Its History, London: Sands & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 8 (What is a Kiss?) and 44 (Love Kisses):From osculum we get the words osculogy, the science of kissing, and osculogical, that which pertains to kissing; but the Greek derivations philematology and philematological are perhaps preferable. […] Dorat, who may be regarded as a high authority on philematology, expressly says: A second kiss can physic / The evil the first has wrought
* ↑ [Jacobus Herrenschmidius] (1659) Speculum φιληματολογίας [philēmatologías]. cùm Sacræ tùm profanæ: Per quæstiones aliquot ex variis multorum monumentis non minus ad voluptatem quam utilitatem S.S. Theologiæ & Philologiæ Studiosorum concinnatum operâ & studio. [Mirror of Philematology. Both Sacred and Profane: From Various Memories of Many through a Few Questions Prepared with Study and Work no Less for the Pleasure of the Studiers of Holy Theology and Philology than for Their Use], [Wittenberg, Germany]: Sumptibus Friderici Bergeri Bibl. [At the expense of the library of Friedrich Berger (?)], →OCLC, title page.

### Further reading

* kiss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia