Which version do you usually use? Head over heels, heels over head, head over ears, or over head and ears?

The phrase “head over heels” comes to us courtesy of the Georgian era! It is a corruption of a much earlier idiom, and since its Georgian inception has changed a few more times yet again.

The original phrase is “heels over head” and dates to the 14th century. The original meaning referred more to recklessness than to love, but if one were to describe falling in love, we can easily see how the phrase fits well—to fall recklessly in love.

During the Georgian era, heels over head was transposed to head over heels, its first appearance being in 1726, and changed from meaning reckless to meaning “totally” and “completely,” which now fits the falling in love descriptor better—to fall totally and completely in love.

The context of the phrase shifted further into the Georgian era to refer to tumbling, falling, or somersaulting, thus further completing our love descriptor—literally, falling in love.

In the British Isles, it’s common also to hear “head over ears,” but it’s a misconception that the term has the same meaning as head over heels. “Head over ears” comes to us from “over head and ears,” which doesn’t specifically mean “in love” rather it means “in over one’s head.” The term could, thus, be used in the same context, but “head over ears” is much more general to mean in trouble, so the reference could be to love or something more sinister like financial debt or a lie that has gone awry, etc.

The usage of the latest version (head over ears) adds another dimension to the situation of being in love, namely that someone has fallen so completely and recklessly in love that they're in over their head. An apt description for many of our storybook heroes, wouldn't you say?