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When and why was this first called a heart?

As far as I can tell, the biological heart does not appear to bear it much resemblance.

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I wondered that since my childhood. Guess I will know now. Ty ELU... – Sȱɳɨȼ Ʈħe ǶḝÐɠḝħȱɠ Sep 22 '11 at 21:26

closed as general reference by mgkrebbs, Daniel δ, kiamlaluno, Callithumpian, simchona♦ Sep 23 '11 at 2:06

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

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It seems that the symbol has developed as a metaphorical use of a Fig leaf to ivy and was inconized as the symbol you posted.

Unfortunately I haven't found citable sources in English.

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A Slate article addresses this, as does Wikipedia.

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Link rot happens: please include summaries of the articles you link to. – Marthaª Sep 22 '11 at 19:53
My point was more that this information is easily available with a quick Google search. – onomatomaniak Sep 22 '11 at 19:53
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If you believe this question is general reference, you should have either voted to close it as such (if you have that privilege), or flagged it for moderator attention. Posting an answer implies that you believe the question is valid and on-topic. (Also, having read both of your links, I don't see that they satisfactorily answer this question.) – Marthaª Sep 22 '11 at 19:59
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Yes, this is a google query. "heart shape origin" yields besides the above, these relevant Google Answers and Yahoo Answers links. Not a language issue, either. – mgkrebbs Sep 22 '11 at 20:02
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The answer should at least include the full description of the Slate article, which is "The Shape of My Heart/ Where did the ubiquitous Valentine's symbol come from?" By Keelin McDonell Posted Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007, at 5:20 PM ET as it is in an archived section of old content from Slate. – Feral Oink Sep 22 '11 at 21:02

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