Research # 4 – A definition of our phrase “to wear your heart on you sleeve” is that without saying anything people can tell the way that you feel because you can’t hide it. Your facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice give away how you truly feel. Well we were sort of close about the definition but what about the origin? 
I actually found three different stories or possibilities for the expressions origins. The first one I enjoy the most. Back when Emperor Claudius II was in ruling during the Roman Empire he declared marriage illegal. He thought unattached men would be better soldiers for battle. He only allowed temporary coupling. Annually at the Roman festival that honored Juno, men drew names of women who would then be their partners during the coming year. There was no romance involved. In fact “love” was not considered a real quality on which to base a relationship.
Each man would wear the name of the woman whose name he had drawn on his sleeve for the remainder of the festival. We don’t know how men drew the woman’s name but we do know it was a ritual that did not involve anything like courtship, dating, or prior knowledge of a friendship. It was a very superficial and primitive method of finding a mate.
Later on, it is speculated that knights who jousted in the King’s Court would fight for the honor of a woman by tying a token of hers around his sleeve. By doing so he was defending his lady’s honor in a public display that spoke of his dedication to her. This may or may not have spoken to his emotional attachment to his lady. In days of yore a man’s display of respect toward a lady’s honor didn’t necessarily speak for his true emotion.
The first found documentation of the expression was by William Shakespeare in his play Othello, written in 1604. In a scene Iago acts as if he’s “wearing his heart on his sleeve” to relate to the audience that he is open, honest and faithful. He states, “The native act and figure of my heart | But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve | For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.” I think it is hard for us to imagine a world like this, but wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve has been obviously translated through generations of time.
Images Included From: Smithsonian.org
EVER WONDER WHY? 
Wonderful! My mother always used that expression and she had many others too! Very interesting, Miss Rose!
LikeLike
This is one of my favorite sayings, I used it for a design project in college, and I’ve also written songs based on the saying. I guess I’ve always thought it was a beautiful way to express the vulnerability of liking someone. The interpretations you’ve written about are very new and interesting to me, it’s very cool that ultimately the saying was first found documented by Shakespeare. Thanks for the post!
LikeLike