What does a cuddle mean to you?
There is a beautiful painting called The three ages of woman, which was painted by Gustav Klimt in 1905. It depicts a woman’s circle of life and shows a small girl being held affectionately by her mother. They are both naked and appear perfectly content. At their side is an old woman; she stands alone with her head hung low and her hand covering her eyes. She has sallow skin and a look of despair.
Mothers know that cuddles shared with their child provide a moment of serenity and a sense of overwhelming love. Cuddles grow a little tighter as the mother reflects that, one day, her child will no longer need them, or as the fear of losing them whispers somewhere in the subconscious. The old woman on the left of Klimt’s painting doesn’t mourn the loss of her young and agile body, but the time that she cuddled her infant. Her protruding belly is a reminder of the treasure she once held so close.
Cuddle – etymology
The etymology of the verb to cuddle is difficult to establish. It may derive from the adjective couth, which was used at the start of the 11th century to describe someone familiar or well-known: “Every man both fremd [foreign] and cough [familiar]” (Political, religious and love poems, Archbishop of Canterbury et al., c1450). By the mid 18th century, couth (or couthie) was being used to describe something that was snug and cosy: “His house was warm and couth And room in it to hold me” (Miller by J. Clerk, a1749). Changes that took place with other words in the English language support the idea that couth became cuddle: the adjective fond became the verb to fondle and the Middle English word fithel became fiddle (the instrument). Some experts, however, believe it could be related to the Dutch kudden, which meant flock or herd.
Whatever the etymology of the word, cuddles have been around for as long as mothers have nursed their young and fathers have shielded them from danger. We have been snuggling up to someone familiar to us for longer than we have known what to call it.
