For the ancient Greeks, the soul lived in the heart, so did all the intellectual faculties of men.
So, the English language has mantained this perspective: to know by heart means to love something so much that it is inside your heart and consequently you know very well.
You know very well because you love it with all your heart, you have breathed it so that now it is in your inner part and the most important of your body.
It is part of you.
In Italian, the love & affection meaning isn't contemplated. "Conoscere a memoria": you know with your brain, the brain just like a scanner which has screened the object and now it is, subdivided in bites 0-1, under flashes of light in your mind. But no affection and love for it.
Consequently, the object is something detached from you, that didn't affect you in any way.
That you can possibly forget after a while.
Cool.
So, the English language has mantained this perspective: to know by heart means to love something so much that it is inside your heart and consequently you know very well.
You know very well because you love it with all your heart, you have breathed it so that now it is in your inner part and the most important of your body.
It is part of you.
In Italian, the love & affection meaning isn't contemplated. "Conoscere a memoria": you know with your brain, the brain just like a scanner which has screened the object and now it is, subdivided in bites 0-1, under flashes of light in your mind. But no affection and love for it.
Consequently, the object is something detached from you, that didn't affect you in any way.
That you can possibly forget after a while.
Cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment