37.2, Reviews: Love, Sex, and the Sacred: Veronika Szelid (2025)

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Subject: 37.2, Reviews: Love, Sex, and the Sacred: Veronika Szelid (2025)

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Date: 19-Dec-2025
From: Mateja Lasnik [mateja.lasnik3 at gmail.com]
Subject: Veronika Szelid (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/36-2306

Title: Love, Sex, and the Sacred
Subtitle: A metaphor analysis of Hungarian folk songs
Series Title: Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: John Benjamins
           http://www.benjamins.com/
Book URL: https://benjamins.com/catalog/clscc.18

Author(s): Veronika Szelid

Reviewer: Mateja Lasnik

Please write or copy and paste your review of Love, Sex, and the
Sacred here.
SUMMARY
Veronika Szelid’s Love, Sex, and the Sacred explores how ROMANTIC LOVE
is conceptualized in the Hungarian love folk songs of a traditional
religious community. The songs analyzed come from the Moldavian
Csángós, a Roman Catholic Hungarian group that speaks one of the
oldest Hungarian dialects. The book is organized into six chapters and
includes an appendix containing the abbreviations used throughout, the
sources of the analyzed Hungarian folk songs, and indices of both
metaphors and metonymies.
Chapter One (the introduction) outlines the book’s objectives, its
methodology, and provides an overview of the chapters. The study is
grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, as developed in Metaphors We
Live By (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and Philosophy in the Flesh (Lakoff &
Johnson, 1999), as well as the works of Zoltán Kövecses, whose
research has been particularly influential in applying conceptual
metaphor theory to emotions (e.g., Kövecses, 2010). Szelid begins by
questioning whether the conceptualizations of romantic emotions, such
as passion, attraction, and desire, identified in American English
(Kövecses, 1988), are universal. She concludes that they are not,
which leads to the central research question: how is ROMANTIC LOVE
conceptualized in the Hungarian Csángós love folk songs? The author
argues that the concept of ROMANTIC LOVE is closely tied both to SEX
and to THE SACRED, reflecting the role of religion in the community’s
worldview.
Chapter Two examines three key aspects that frame the book’s analysis:
Hungarian folk songs, the Moldavian Csángós, and their traditional
religious worldview. The book explains that Hungarian folk songs
remain culturally significant today and are even part of the mandatory
curriculum in Hungarian schools. These songs depict various aspects of
village life, with LOVE being a central theme. The chapter explores
issues of language and identity, highlighting the archaic features of
the Csángó dialect and the folk music. It further discusses how the
community’s traditional religious beliefs shape their worldview,
noting that many metaphors in the songs are grounded in these customs,
reflecting the deep influence of religion on their cultural identity.
Chapter Three explores the concept of ideal partners. It begins with
background on how humans and animals select partners and discusses
cross-cultural variations in the qualities considered desirable. The
focus then shifts to the traits of ideal partners as represented in
Moldavian Csángó folk songs. Colors associated with ideal partners are
analyzed through metonymy-based color terms found in the songs.
Additionally, metaphors for LOVERS are examined within the Great Chain
of Being framework, using source domains such as FLOWERS, BIRDS,
VALUABLE OBJECTS, CHILDREN, and SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, reflecting a
Hungarian worldview shaped by the natural environment.
Chapter Four examines the physical dimension of LOVE, focusing on
SEXUALITY and how it is represented in the folk songs through
conceptual metaphor theory. Many daily activities of the Moldavian
Csángó community are reflected in the songs, with AGRICULTURE
frequently serving as a source domain for sexuality (e.g., WOMAN’S
BODY IS LAND, SEX IS SOWING, CHILDBIRTH IS HARVESTING), alongside
activities such as eating, drinking, baking, sports, arts and crafts,
and housework. Many of these metaphors are connected to MORALITY,
highlighting the labor and effort required to sustain relationships,
produce life, and raise children. Other metaphors convey moral lessons
by criticizing extramarital pursuits, emphasizing chastity and
loyalty. According to the author, these conceptualizations of
sexuality are deeply intertwined with religious values and associated
with MORALITY, LOVE, and the PERPETUATION OF LIFE, reflecting the
sacred. In the folk songs, sexuality is not portrayed as fleeting or
purely pleasurable; rather, it is linked to moral life on Earth, which
is understood as preparation for union with God and eternal life.
Chapter Five examines the metaphors that shape the emotional and
social dimensions of LOVE. The chapter is divided into two parts: the
first considers LOVE as an emotion, while the second addresses LOVE as
a relationship. In the first part, the role of internal organs in
conceptualizing emotions across cultures is discussed. In Moldavian
Csángó folk songs, both CONTAINER metaphors (e.g., BODY ORGANS (HEART,
HEAD, LIVER) or BODY AS CONTAINERS OF EMOTIONS) and EVENT STRUCTURE
COMPLEX METAPHORS (e.g., the FORCE schema) appear to varying degrees.
The second part focuses on relationships, showing that in traditional
societies like the Moldavian Csángós, love is understood through the
LOVE IS UNITY metaphor. In contrast, individualist societies, such as
those reflected in American English (Kövecses, 1988, 2000),
conceptualize love using the LOVE IS BUSINESS metaphor, emphasizing
mutual benefits; this metaphor, however, is rare in Csángó folk songs.
According to the author, LOVE IS UNITY represents the ideal model for
romantic relationships and marriage in Csángó culture. The connection
to God and religion is also highlighted, as the Csángós strive to live
according to divine commands in preparation for eventual union with
God.
Chapter Six, the final chapter, synthesizes the notions of love, sex,
and the sacred, demonstrating how closely these concepts are
intertwined. The physical dimension of LOVE, which is SEXUALITY, is in
the folk songs not depicted as lustful or fleeting, but as connected
to the meaning of life. In the Moldavian Csángó community, sexuality
is considered THE SACRED SPHERE, with women’s bodies symbolizing the
creation of new life. SEXUALITY is framed as the unity of man, woman,
and God. The emotional dimension presents love as a slow, creative
force, contrasting with the American conception of ROMANTIC LOVE
(Kövecses, 1988), which emphasizes rapid, intense, and short-lived
passion. Socially, love is modeled through the UNITY metaphor, where
two unities combine to form a whole. The author concludes that love in
these folk songs is fundamentally grounded in the LOVING RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN GOD AND A HUMAN BEING, with life in the Csángó community
oriented toward preparing for union with God. Overall, the folk songs
construct love within a traditional religious framework through the
metaphor LOVE IS A CREATIVE FORCE, supported by the metonymy LOVE FOR
THE CREATION OF LIFE.
EVALUATION
The book is engaging from multiple perspectives – linguistic,
philosophical, psychological, cultural-anthropological, and religious.
By applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Hungarian Csángó love folk
songs, it will be of particular interest to cognitive linguists at
both beginner and advanced levels, especially those interested in the
intersections of language, emotions, sexuality, and religion. The book
also addresses profound philosophical questions, such as the nature of
love, its relationship with sexuality, and its connection to religion,
even touching on broader questions about the meaning of life. These
insights are drawn from analyzing the traditional, ancient Hungarian
Csángó folk songs, offering a rich perspective that may appeal to
philosophers and psychologists alike. Moreover, the focus on a
specific society (the Moldavian Csángós) makes the book relevant to
cultural anthropologists, and its emphasis on religion broadens its
appeal to scholars in the field of religious studies.
The book is written with evident passion, and the author shares
personal experiences that inspired her research. She recounts
performing folk songs in traditional costumes and visiting Csángó
villages, which gives the work a personal and authentic touch. One of
its major strengths is its clear structure: it provides a thorough
introduction to the Moldavian Csángós, their folk songs, and their
traditional religious worldview. It also offers a solid background on
concepts of ideal partners, love, and sexuality. The author
demonstrates a remarkable ability to identify a wide range of
metaphors and metonymies related to the physical, emotional, and
social dimensions of love, which may not be apparent to readers
unfamiliar with the Csángó worldview. Her analyses are professional,
careful, and insightful.
There are, however, a few minor limitations. For readers who are new
to Conceptual Metaphor Theory or come from other disciplines, an
introductory explanation of the theory and the methodology for
identifying metaphors and metonymies would have been helpful.
Additionally, some passages are somewhat repetitive, particularly
regarding the relationships among love, sex, and the sacred. At the
same time, this repetition can be seen as emphasizing the central
themes of the book.
Overall, I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in
exploring love through language, particularly researchers working at
the intersection of language, metaphor theory, emotions, and
sexuality. It also opens opportunities for cross-cultural research: it
would be fascinating to examine whether concepts of love, sex, and the
sacred in other languages and cultures align with or differ from those
in Moldavian Csángó folk songs. In short, this book provides a
creative springboard for future research on how love is conceptualized
worldwide.
REFERENCES
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh. New York:
Basic Books.
Kövecses, Z. (1988). The Language of Love: The Semantics of Passion in
Conversational English. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body
in Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction (2nd ed.). New
York: Oxford University Press.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Mateja Lasnik earned her PhD in Linguistics from National Taiwan
University in 2025. She will join Providence University as an
Assistant Professor in February 2026. Her research focuses on language
and gender, emotions, metaphor, and sexuality, and she has published
in Cognitive Linguistic Studies (2023) and the Cambridge Encyclopedia
of Cognitive Linguistics (forthcoming).



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