The Shell Bone Script for character Heart
It resembles a heart, even showing the atria and ventricles, indicating that the ancients observed it very meticulously. Of course, it must have been the heart of an animal they observed.
The Big Seal Script for character Heart
It also looks like a heart, although it no longer shows the atria and ventricles.
The Small Seal Script for character Heart
It doesn't resemble a heart as much anymore, but it still somewhat resembles one.
The Clerical Script for character Heart
Compared with the Big and Small Seal Scripts above, it can be seen that the dot in the middle corresponds to the dot in the Big Seal Script for Heart. The two dots on the sides correspond to the symmetrical arcs in the Big and Small Seal Scripts. The long horizontal stroke at the bottom is the semicircle enclosing the heart. When straightened, it no longer resembles a heart. This is a characteristic of the Clerical Script, with its horizontal and vertical strokes making writing easier but losing the pictographic nature.
Now let's look at the character for love.
There is no entry for the character for love in the Oracle Bone Script dictionary, indicating that the character for love likely appeared after the character for heart. First came the heart, then love.
The Big Seal Script for character Love
According to the "Pictographic Dictionary," the explanation is that the large semicircles at the top and bottom form the character "欠," representing a person with an open mouth, indicating breathing or murmuring softly. Enclosed within is the character for heart, meaning "to cherish and protect with all one's heart, murmuring softly with affection." Whether this is accurate is uncertain. The large arc may represent the body, similar to how the outer part of "勻" represents the body, with the heart inside. The left upper part of the large arc represents a hand, similar to how the stroke in "勻" represents a hand, indicating the act of caressing from the heart. The small arc at the top (a horizontal U-shape) generally represents a foot, indicating the foot follows the heart. The meaning of the character might be that the act of caressing with the hand and moving with the feet (towards the loved one) comes from the heart.
The Small Seal Script for character Love
It is similar to the Big Seal Script, but with an additional component at the bottom resembling the character "夕," which means foot.
The "Pictographic Dictionary" suggests this is an inverted "止" character. "止" is the original character for toe, meaning foot in its earliest form in Oracle Bone Script. "止" means foot, so the bottom also represents a foot, indicating running for love, with the body enclosing and protecting the heart. Therefore, the Small Seal Script for love might mean "to cherish and protect the heart with one's whole body is love."
The Clerical Script for character Love
The Clerical Script has changed significantly. The top part is no longer a foot but a hand. The "Pictographic Dictionary" does not explain why this is so. I will try to interpret the meaning of the Clerical Script for "love."
The top part, consisting of a left-falling stroke and three dots, represents a hand, as seen in characters like "採" (pluck), "舀" (scoop), and "受" (receive). This hand signifies the act of caressing. The semicircular radical should represent the body, like the outer shell in the Big and Small Seal Scripts for "勻." The middle part encloses the heart, and the bottom part represents the foot. Thus, the hand above caressing the heart signifies love.
In every script, the character for love includes the heart. However, the simplified character retains the hand and foot but omits the heart, resulting in a poorly simplified character.
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