amort n. (Lat. amor, love + Lat. mort, death)
the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent
combination of Eros and Thanatos or the
transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)
destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.
Amort is the most common theme of European
literature, from Tristan and Isolde to
The Ballad of Reading Gaol:
And all men kill
the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!