The heart symbol has represented affection or love since the nineteenth centuryLove towards particular people, but it can also represent the attraction to many other things, including objects and abstract ideas. Just think of expressions like “I ❤ peace”, “I ❤ Rome”, etc. The idea that the heart is the emblem of love dates back to relatively recent times. Symbols similar to that of the heart were already used in ancient worldfor example in theEtruscan artbut they had different meanings and were not intended to reproduce a human heart, but a FIG leaf. The heart has become an emblem of love in 14th-15th century and today, thanks to advertising campaigns, emoticons and other forms of communication, it is a very popular symbol.
What is the heart symbol and what does it mean?
The heart symbol, which almost everyone uses in messages chat And social mediais used to express love towards someone or something. It does not necessarily represent love between two partners: it can also be used to represent affection between friends or love for objects, abstract ideas, places. Sometimes the heart is depicted with a arrow that pierces himto symbolize that he was “struck” by love. The symbolism derives from the Greek mythologyaccording to which Erosthe god of love, made people fall in love by hitting them with golden arrows.
The heart symbol, in any case, does not depicts a human heart in a realistic waysince the shape of the organ is different from the stylized one commonly used as an emoticon and drawing. But what are the origins of the symbol?
Where the symbol comes from and its first uses in the ancient world
A symbol similar to that of the heart was already used in the ancient world, but it had two essential differences compared to today’s design: it depicted a FIG leaf and not a human heart and had a different meaning, because it didn’t represent love. With these characteristics, the symbol has been attested for centuries 6th-5th century BC in some pendants of the Indus Valleyin the’Etruscan art and on the coins of the city of Cyrenein North Africa.
The heart as an emblem of love
The idea of using a heart to symbolize love dates back to more recent times. The first attestation has been identified in a French manuscript from 1250The Romance of pear: in the decoration of a letter S, a man is depicted in the act of offering his heart to the woman he loves.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the heart was used as an emblem of love in a fresco painted by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Paduaalthough in this case it did not symbolize romantic love for the beloved, but spiritual love for the divinity. The painter in fact depicted a personification of Charity in the act of offering her heart to Jesus. The shape of the hearts painted in the medieval and early modern eras was however different from the current one. The stylised design that we commonly use today had not yet established itself and more realistic images.
There diffusion of the heart symbol to this day
Around 15th centurythe use of the heart as an emblem of love became more common. Among the factors that favored its diffusion was the “invention” of the playing cardsarrived in Europe from Egypt towards the end of the 15th century, because, since the Middle Ages, one of the four suits has been made up of hearts. In ‘600moreover, in the Catholic sphere the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesuswhich further increased the popularity of the heart as a symbol of love. In the nineteenth century the symbol took on a form similar to the current one and in the second half of the century it became common to use it on postcards printed on the occasion of Valentine’s Day celebration.
In more recent times the symbol has become even more widespread and, in addition to being a generic emblem of love, the practice of using it as a substitute for the verb amareespecially in expressions with “THE ❤…”. The first use of this kind dates back to 1977, when the campaign “I ❤ New York”.
Another important date for the symbol is 1986, when the heart was first used in a video game, The Legend of Zeldato indicate the number of lives remaining to the player, thus introducing a symbology used in numerous other video games. Since then, the popularity of the heart symbol has further grown.
