“How does it happen we say we learn things ‘by heart’ instead of ‘by head’? It’s because of a mistaken analysis of anatomical functions made by the ancient Greeks. They placed the seat of thought in the heart.” LEARN BY ROTE –

“What is the reason we use the phrase ‘learn by rote’ to indicate learning by repetition? This phrase means ‘to learn by the wheel’ – from ‘rota,’ the L*tin word for ‘wheel.’ The allusion is to turning the thought over and over in the mind or saying it over and over again, in much the same way as a wheel goes around.” From “Why do we say it? The stories behind the words, expressions and cliches we use,” (no author listed), Castle Books, Edison, N.J., 1985.

Another source seems to imply that the two terms are the same but I believe that’s incorrect: “Learn. Learn by heart, To. To ‘learn by rote’; to memorize. Learn by rote, To. To learn by means of repetition, i.e., by going over the same track again and again. Rote has been associated with route, but there is no good authority for this.” From “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable” revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition).

I think that learning something “by heart” implies a deeper level of learning than learning “by rote.” If a person knows something by heart, it is internalized. Any thoughts on that?

More thoughts on this.

The ancient Greeks believed that the heart, the most noticeable internal organ, was the seat of intelligence and memory as well as emotion. This belief was passed on down the ages and became the basis for the English expression ‘learn by heart,’ which is used by Chaucer (1374) and must have been proverbial long before that. ‘To record’ reminds us again of this ancient belief in the heart as the seat of the mind. When writing wasn’t a simple act, things had to be memorized; thus we have the word ‘record,’ formed from the Latin ‘re,’ ‘again,’ and ‘cor,’ ‘heart,’ which means exactly the same as ‘learn by heart.'” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

God be in my head,

And in my understanding;

God be in mine eyes,

And in my looking;

God be in my mouth,

And in my speaking;

God be in my heart,

And in my thinking;

God be at mine end,

And at my departing.

The Knight’s Prayer, from a book of hours, 1514