Where did the heart symbol come from?

[haukipesukone]

I mean this one. Where did it come from, how long has it been in use? It's seems to be a global symbol nowadays. I wonder what its story is.

http://rebeee.blogit.fi/files/2010/01/heart-blending.jpg

Is this the origin?

http://www.sygnetswans.com/Sygswjo_Hearta-Swans.JPG

[brokenshadow]

Honestly... I think it's based on a vagina.

[nikki_miaow]

The shape of a female buttocks.

[thedefender]

The shape of a female buttocks.

I would post some pictures but perhaps not.

[robdoo]

As with all of the most important symbols it probably has multiple meanings and is a shape that can be found in many places within the natural world.

Many leaves on trees are heart shaped.

[hellokitty]

http://www.slate.com/id/2159800/?GT1=9129

[haukipesukone]

http://www.slate.com/id/2159800/?GT1=9129

Makes sense if it's another Brotherhood Egyptian thing.

There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape (♥). The symbol is remarkably similar to the Egyptian "heart soul" (ib).[citation needed] The sexual nature of that concept, combined with the widespread use of silphium in ancient Egypt for birth control, and the fact that the seeds of silphium are shaped like a heart as shown in the left illustration, leads to speculation that the character for ib may have been derived from the shape of the silphium seed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium#Connection_with_the_heart_symbol


More info about silphium:
http://irrationalgeographic.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/the-lost-panacea-of-silphium/
http://medgadget.com/archives/2007/05/the_birth_control_of_yesteryear.html

[camreeno]

It's the letter V with the shape of an ass on top. :D No, I really don't know.

[moving finger]

It's a wild stab in the dark...

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5013/heartut.jpg