Deboleena Chatterjee

In Galenic medicine, heart was thought to give "emotions," and the liver, "passion." The liver was also thought to be the origin of blood and it became the center of human life - known as "hepatocentrism." The liver descriptor term is "hepar," of Greek origin, which arises from the word “hedoné” meaning “pleasure.” The initial belief was that liver housed desire and also the "soul." The liver was also found to be warm and moist - because of which it was associated with "love." Because love was "fiery," according to the old (and now obsolete) theory of body humors, yellow bile which was bright and plenty in the liver was considered the seat of "fire." This belief persisted for 4000 years, until the 17th century when heart became the center of "life" after the discovery of its anatomical and physiological importance in "pumping" blood to keep other organs "alive." The English term liver is derived from Anglo-saxon word - "lifere" which means, "to live." Originally thought a seat of fiery passion, human feelings and desire, and of life, the "liver" was once romanticized, until the heart/vascular system ruined it (air.unimi.it/handle/2434/263…) In Hindi - "Nazar ke saamne, Jigar (liver) ke paas" youtube.com/watch?v=uNt18l9U… In Malayalam - "Karale (liver), karalinte karale.." youtube.com/watch?v=KntBpcTD… Sources: “I Miss My Liver.” Nonmedical Sources in the History of Hepatocentrism - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article… “The city of Hepar”: Rituals, gastronomy, and politics at the origins of the modern names for the liver - sciencedirect.com/science/ar…