Here is an essay by historian Rob Boddice on how emotions (in this case, happiness) have changed over time. We can intuit what was meant by a word like “happiness” in the past by looking at the contexts in which it was used. What I don’t think can be established using this approach is only the meaning of the labels has changed, or if the emotions themselves were different. Colors are a useful analogy: Exactly which wavelengths we refer to as “red” is different between different cultures and may have changed over time, but does that mean that our perception of color has changed as well? Of course, this is the much harder question to answer.
Throughout his work, Boddice states that he believes that we don’t just label emotions differently, but that we actually feel differently than we used to. I think this is correct and before encountering Boddice’s work I had similar, but less well-developed thoughts. However, I wouldn’t want to overstate this either. There is a lot of diversity in how humans feel within any society, and I’d be surprised if that diversity didn’t overlap the emotional diversity of other epochs.
Nehaveigur 