To know by heart and (some) of its translations
In Spanish, the expression "to know by heart" is translated to "saber de memoria" ("to know from memory"). By itself, the difference in translation might seem arbitrary. However, among some European languages there seems to be a divide, where in some of them perfectly knowing something is solely associated with the memory, and in others it's associated both with the memory and the heart.
French, Catalonian and English, for example, fit the second group (Savoir par cœur/de mémoire, saber de cor/de memòria, to know by heart/from memory). Meanwhile, Italian and Spanish belong to the first group (sapere a memoria, saber de memoria).
Russian is the only exception to the languages I'm familiar with: the expression "знать на память" ("to know from memory") exists, but more often you'll hear "знать наизусть", which seems to be a calque of the Ancient Greek "ἀπὸ στόματος" ("from the mouth", уста being the old/poetic version of рот, губа). Not sure what the mouth has to do with knowing something, but it is an interesting turn of this expression!
If you know how to say this expression in other languages you're welcome to explain it in the replies! 🌺















