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The heart symbol is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or sense. Represented by an anatomy inaccurate shape, the heart symbol is often used to represent 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 It is sometimes accompanied or superseded by a "wounded heart" symbol, depicted as a heart symbol pierced with an Cupid, indicating lovesickness, or as a "broken" heart symbol in two or more pieces, indicating Broken heart.
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, Japanese castle, 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.
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, but in such instances does not depict a heart, but typically foliage: in examples from antiquity Common fig leaves, and in medieval iconography and heraldry, typically the leaves of Hedera and of the Nymphaeaceae.
The first known 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 Roman de la poire.(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 doux regard) 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. Opinions, therefore, differ over this being the first depiction of a heart as a symbol of 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 a dent in its base, arises in the early 14th century, at first only lightly dented, as in the miniatures in Francesco da Barberino's Documenti d'amore]] (before 1320). A slightly later example with a more pronounced dent is found in a manuscript from the Cistercians 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 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, and stylized depictions of breasts, buttocks, the mons pubis, 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
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.
The use of the heart symbol as a logograph for the English verb "to love" derives from the use in "I ♥ NY," introduced by 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.
Heart symbols are frequently used to symbolize "health" or "lives" in . 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.
Inverted heart symbols have been used in heraldry as stylized ( 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.
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