On the surface Giselle means, "he loved me more than anyone had ever been loved." But the true meaning of the line is that Nostromo's love for Giselle was a new kind of love, one not based on desires of conquest and possession but on the desire to transcend those things. It is a different love than that of Decoud, who rejoiced to make Antonia cry , or Dr Monygham, who waged inner battles with Charles Gould and Nostromo over his beloved, or Linda, who framed her declaration of love entirely in terms of ownership and was then consumed with jealousy. Note that Nostromo, who began his love with fits of jealousy over Ramirez, has changed to the point where he accepts that Giselle and Ramirez will wed, and even magnanimously abets it by removing Giselle from the jealous Violas.