Among the most powerful expressions of intimacy and connection, the kiss holds a special place in the universal language of human gestures. Let’s discover its origin which is not strictly romantic
For millennia, the kiss has been celebrated as a symbol of love, desire and passion, an act capable of making the bond between two people tangible in a single moment of closeness. But if this is the romantic vision we have of the kiss today, its origin is completely unexpected, apparently foreign to love, linked to the very survival of man and his primitive past.
The origins of the kiss
According to a recent study published by Adriano R. Lameira, associate professor of psychology at the English University of Warwick, the human kiss descends from an evolutionary gesture practiced for decidedly less sentimental purposes. Lameira concluded that, more than a sign of affection, the kiss would have developed as part of a grooming and body care practiceborrowed from our primate ancestors. This behavior has ancient roots, dating back to an era in which direct physical contact with the mouth was used to remove impurities and parasites from the skin of others. In fact, in the life of ancient primates, grooming did not represent just a mere cleaning habit, but a necessary action to maintain one’s health and that of one’s group.
Kissing was used to clean oneself
Lameira’s hypothesis is based on comparisons with behaviors observed in modern monkeys, in particular those that use their mouths to clean the fur or skin of their peers. The kiss, in this context, would represent the final phase of grooming, in which the examined individual is “kissed” to remove small residues of dirt or parasites from the skin. In primate societies, this activity not only ensured hygiene but strengthened social bonds, a phenomenon that may have represented an ancestral model for what we now call physical affection.
With the progress of human evolution and the reduction of body hair, the need to groom others has reduced, and physical grooming behavior has lost its primary function. Yet, the gesture of kissing remained, likely transforming over time into a symbol of social connection and, ultimately, romantic intimacy. Thus, according to Lameira, the human being has become a “kissing monkey”an evolution that may have occurred between two and four million years ago. The oldest documented evidence of a kiss dates back to Mesopotamian texts from 2500 BC, which describe this gesture as part of social and love life, which over time would then consolidate as a cultural convention.
In this context, the transition from the original hygienic meaning to the kiss as an intimate and sexual gesture remains an enigma that has not been completely resolved. According to Lameira, the kiss understood as a romantic and sexual act could represent an evolutionary form of primitive grooming behavior, developed for reasons that involve various aspects of human sociality and rituality. Although the details of how the kiss acquired a sexual value still remain unclear, it can be hypothesized that it took on symbolic connotations once society accepted its use as a general form of emotional expression.
Today, therefore, the kiss appears as a complex and layered gesture that contains much more than appears at first glance. Lameira defines it as a “crystallized symbol of trust and affiliation”, capable of expressing intimacy and security between two individuals, bringing with it a profound emotional resonance. But despite the romantic meaning we attribute to it, the kiss still retains a trace of its ancestral origins, a vestigial form of grooming that has been able to adapt to the new needs and functions of human sociality.
The path that led the kiss to take on today’s meanings, therefore, represents a fascinating and complex evolutionary journey, which brings together the primordial needs of our ancestors with the most sophisticated symbols of our modern culture. Faced with an origin that we could define as “disgusting” compared to what we are used to imagining, the kiss is confirmed as an intrinsically human act, a sign of affiliation and belonging that binds us to the past and defines our present.
