heart

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /hɑːt/, US /hɑːrt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English herte, inherited from Old English heorte,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hertan-,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kerd- (“heart”).^[2][4][3] Its relatives include German Herz, Dutch hart and Old Norse hjarta, and outside Germanic Latin cor, Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía), Old Irish cride and Hittite kardi.^[3][5][6] English has cardiac from the Greek^[7] and cordial, courage, accord, concord, discord and record from the Latin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The organ that pumps blood; also the breast, the soul and spirit, the will, courage and the mind: Old English heorte, about 725.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Most of the figurative senses were already present in Old English, including the heart as the seat of feeling, love and courage, and as the seat of memory, which survives only in by heart (late 14th century).^[2][7] The inner part of anything is the heart from the 13th^[8] or early 14th century,^[2] the heartwood of a tree from 1324,^[9] and the conventional heart shape from 1446.^[9] The spelling ea dates from about 1500, when it stood for a long vowel; the pronunciation later changed but the spelling stayed.^[2][3] Wear one's heart on one's sleeve is from the early 17th century, perhaps from the favour a knight tied to his sleeve.^[7] Heart attack is from 1875.^[2] The Old English verb hiertan, “to give heart to”, was replaced by hearten,^[10][8] and the verb “to love”, as in I heart New York, is from about 1993, after a New York State tourist campaign that used a heart symbol for “love”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English heorte.^[3]
• 13th century – the inner part.^[8]
• 1324 – heartwood.^[9]
• late 14th century – by heart.^[2]
• 1446 – the heart shape.^[9]
• c. 1500 – the spelling heart.^[2]
• early 17th century – wear one's heart on one's sleeve.^[7]
• 1875 – heart attack.^[2]
• 1993 – verb, to love.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The hollow muscular organ that pumps blood through the body.
2. The seat of the emotions, especially love; one's inmost feelings.
3. Compassion; capacity for sympathy.
4. Courage, resolution: lose heart.
5. The central or vital part of something; the core.
6. A shape like a heart, or a playing card of the suit marked with such shapes.

Verb

1. (informal) To love.
2. (archaic) To hearten.

Related words

• cardiac
• cordial
• courage
• core
• record
• hearten
• hearty

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press