The kiss as a form of greeting has been used since very early times. Ethologists regard the kiss as a very deep, primeval gesture, stemming from the mother passing her chewed food directly to her baby's mouth. This gives the kiss its most intimate function – taking its meaning much further than merely as an expression of affection or sexual desire.

The Old English word for a kiss was coss (from an Old Norse word, koss, that the marauding Vikings brought with them), and it wasn't until the 16th century that people started to ‘kiss’ each other.

Kissing is described in many places in the Old Testament of the Bible. The best loved one is probably verse 1 of The Songs of Solomon:

These lines cause even matter of fact experts on symbols and gestures to go into raptures, saying, for instance, that ‘the kiss means the joining together of spirit to spirit. Breath is inhaled and exhaled. It is for this reason that he whose soul goes out in a kiss, sticks fast to another spirit, to a spirit from whom he will be separated no more.’ Could

you feel any closer to another soul?

THE KISS OF DEATH

Spirit-sharing intentions aside, one of the most famous (or infamous) kisses in the Bible comes from the New Testament, where Judas arrives at the Last Supper with a band of men armed ‘with swords and staves’ who have been ordered to arrest Jesus.