The organ that keeps a body running, and the seat feeling was assigned to. In this Grammar, each vessel's own personal layer of meaning, laid beside the shared hearth.
Old English heorte (heart), from Proto-Germanic *herto, from Proto-Indo-European *kerd-; the organ that keeps a body running, given the seat of feeling long before anatomy explained why.
Every vessel keeps one layer of meaning that belongs to no one else, sitting apart from what the whole house shares — named for the organ people trusted with feeling long before anatomy explained why.