The heart symbol is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense. The symbol is a symmetrical shape consisting of "two similar curves meeting in a point at one end and a cusp at the other," not an anatomically correct representation of a heart. Often colored red, the heart symbol denotes the center of emotion, including affection and love, especially romantic love. While ancient antecedents may exist, this shape for the heart became fixed in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes accompanied or superseded by a "wounded heart" symbol, depicted as a heart symbol pierced with an arrow, indicating lovesickness, or as a "broken" heart symbol in two or more pieces, indicating heartbreak.
History Similar shapes from antiquity Peepal leaves were used in artistic depictions by the Indus Valley civilisation; a heart-shaped pendant originating from there has been discovered and is now exhibited in the National Museum of India. In the 5th–6th century BC, the heart shape was used in the Roman world to represent the seeds of the plant silphium, a plant possibly used as a contraceptive and an aphrodisiac.Did the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control?, The Straight Dope, October 13, 2006 Silver coins from Cyrene of the 5th–6th century BC bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant and is understood to represent its seed or fruit.
Since ancient times in Japan, the heart symbol has been called Inome (猪目), meaning the eye of a wild boar, and it has the meaning of warding off evil spirits. The decorations are used to decorate Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, castles, and weapons. The oldest examples of this pattern are seen in some of the Japanese original tsuba (sword guard) of the style called toran gata tsuba (lit., inverted egg shaped tsuba) that were attached to swords from the sixth to seventh centuries, and part of the tsuba was hollowed out in the shape of a heart symbol.
Earliest use The combination of the heart shape and its use within the heart metaphor was developed in the end of the Middle Ages, although the shape has been used in many ancient epigraphy monuments and texts. With possible early examples or direct predecessors in the 13th to 14th century, the familiar symbol of the heart representing love developed in the 15th century, and became popular in Europe during the 16th.Martin Kemp. (2011). "Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon", 1st ed. Oxford University Press, , pp.368, p.96–99.
Before the 14th century, the heart shape was not associated with the meaning of the heart metaphor. The geometric shape itself is found in much earlier sources. However, in such instances it does not depict a heart, but typically foliage: in examples from antiquity fig leaves, and in medieval iconography and heraldry, typically the leaves of ivy and of the water-lily.
The first known, but disputed, depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s. It occurs in a miniature decorating a capital 'S' in a manuscript of the French .(National Library FR MS. 2086, plate 12) In the miniature, a kneeling lover (or more precisely, an allegory of the lover's "sweet gaze" or ) offers his heart to a damsel. The heart here resembles a pine cone (held "upside down", the point facing upward), in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions. However, in this miniature, what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover's finger superimposed on an object; the full shape outline of the object is partly hidden, and, therefore unknown. Moreover, the French title of the manuscript that features the miniature translates into "Novel of the pear" in English. Thus the heart-shaped object would be a pear; the conclusion that a pear represents a heart is dubious, and opinions differ over this claimed depiction of a heart denoting romantic love.Vinken (2001).
Giotto in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua) shows an allegory of charity (caritas) handing her heart to Jesus Christ. This heart is also depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day (still held "upside down"). Giotto's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters, and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce, by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Florence Baptistery (), by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena () and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence (). The convention of showing the heart point upward switches in the late 14th century and becomes rare in the first half of the 15th century.
The "scalloped" shape of the now-familiar heart symbol, with its sides concave toward its base, arises in the early 14th century, at first only lightly dented, as in the miniatures in Francesco da Barberino's (before 1320). A slightly later example with a more pronounced dent is found in a manuscript from the Cistercian monastery in Brussels.MS 4459–70, fol 192v. Royal Library of Belgium The convention of showing a dent at the base of the heart thus spread at about the same time as the convention of showing the heart with its point downward.Vinken (2001): "The change from the spherical to the scalloped form of the heart base happened more or less in train with the differing way in which the heart was held, and has dominated visual representations of the heart ever since." The modern indented red heart has been used on playing cards since the late 15th century.A Brief History of Playing Cardes, by Charles Knutson, Renaissance Magazine 2001
Various hypotheses attempted to connect the "heart shape" as it evolved in the Late Middle Ages with instances of the geometric shape in antiquity. Such theories are modern, proposed from the 1960s onward, and they remain speculative, as no continuity between the supposed ancient predecessors and the late medieval tradition can be shown. Specific suggestions include the shape of the seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, or stylized depictions of breasts, buttocks, or the pubic mound or spread vulva.Proposed by Gloria Steinem in the 1998 introduction to the Vagina Monologues online copy ; "For example, the shape we call a heart—whose symmetry resembles the vulva far more than the asymmetry of the organ that shares its name—is probably a residual female genital symbol. It was reduced from power to romance by centuries of male dominance.", based on an earlier suggestion by Tanzer (1969) that the shape was used as a symbol indicating brothels in ancient Pompeii. Tanzer (1969). The Common People of Pompeii. A study of the graffiti. With illustrations and a map
Renaissance and early modern
Heart shapes can be seen on various stucco reliefs and wall panels excavated from the ruins of Ctesiphon, the Persian capital ().Fragments of stucco roundels in situ, Taq-i Kisra, south building, Ctesiphon, Iraq, 1931–32. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://www.metmuseum.org/met-around-the-world/images/wb_large/wb_Ctesiphon2.jpg
The Luther rose was the seal that was designed for Martin Luther at the behest of Prince John Frederick, in 1530, while Luther was staying at the Coburg Fortress during the Diet of Augsburg. Luther wrote an explanation of the symbol to Lazarus Spengler: "a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. 'For one who believes from the heart will be justified' (Romans 10:10)."gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca , i-p-c-s.org antiquemapsandprints.com, obviously more research is needed here.
The aorta remains visible, as a protrusion at the top centered between the two "chambers" indicated in the symbol, in some depictions of the Sacred Heart well into the 18th century, and is partly still shown today (although mostly obscured by elements such as a crown, flames, rays, or a cross) but the "hearts" suit did not have this element since the 15th century.
Modern
Since the 19th century, the symbol has often been used on Valentine's Day cards, candy boxes, and similar popular culture artifacts as a symbol of romantic love.
The use of the heart symbol as a logograph for the English verb "to love" derives from the use in "I ♥ NY," introduced by the designer Mary Wells Lawrence in 1977."Subsequently the heart symbol became a shorthand for enthusiasm for everything from software to Yorkshire terriers. It was a stamp that validated lifestyles. People could ♥ their grandchildren or line dancing or Buddha." Stephen Amidon, Thomas Amidon, The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart (2011), p. 193.
Outdoor toilets in Scandinavia traditionally had a heart shaped ventilation hole. In homes a heart symbol made from red painted plywood, or a stuffed fabric one, is often used to assist visitors in finding the modern facility. For image see: Hjerte (symbol)
Heart symbols are frequently used to symbolize "health" or "lives" in video games. The Legend of Zelda (1986) had a "life bar" composed of heart shapes, and many other games continued this convention (the Castlevania franchise being a notable exception, where the hearts are ammunition for the secondary weapons instead of representing health). Since the 1990s, the heart symbol has also been used as an ideogram indicating health outside of the video gaming context, e.g., its use by restaurants to indicate heart-healthy nutrient content claim (e.g., "low in cholesterol"). A copyrighted "heart-check" symbol to indicate heart-healthy food was introduced by the American Heart Association in 1995."the heart-check mark that began to appear on a wide array of food packaging in 1995. The symbol consists of a heart branded with a bold, efficient check mark. It is copyrighted by the American Heart Association (AHA), which licenses it for a nominal fee to companies whose products meet the organization's criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol content." Stephen Amidon, Thomas Amidon, The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart (2011), p. 193.
Heraldry
The earliest heart-shaped charges in heraldry appear in the 12th century; the hearts in the coat of arms of Denmark go back to the royal banner of the kings of Denmark, in turn based on a seal used as early as the 1190s. However, while the charges are clearly heart-shaped, they did not depict hearts in origin, or symbolize any idea related to love. Instead, they are assumed to have depicted the leaves of the water-lily. Early heraldic heart-shaped charges depicting the leaves of water-lilies are found in various other designs related to territories close to rivers or a coastline (e.g. Flags of Frisia).
Inverted heart symbols have been used in heraldry as stylized testicles (coglioni in Italian) as in the canting arms of the Colleoni family of Milan.Woodward, John and George Burnett (1969). Woodward's a treatise on heraldry, British and foreign, page 203. Originally published 1892, Edinburgh: W. & A. B. Johnson. .
A seal attributed to William, Lord of Douglas (of 1333) shows a heart shape, identified as the heart of Robert the Bruce. The authenticity of this seal is "very questionable",McAndrew, Scotland's Historic Heraldry, 2006, p. 141 i.e. it could possibly date to the late 14th or even the 15th century.McAndrew 2006, p. 213.
Heraldic charges actually representing hearts became more common in the early modern period, with the Sacred Heart depicted in ecclesiastical heraldry, and hearts representing love appearing in bourgeois coats of arms. Hearts also later became popular elements in municipal coats of arms.
Botanical symbolism