cockle [ME] This common seashell goes back, via French and medieval Latin, to Greek konchylion ‘little mussel’, which in turn comes from konche, source of conch. Both cockleshell [LME] and cockle have been used to describe a small, fragile boat from the late 18th century. The curious expression warm the cockles of your heart seems to come from the idea that a cockle shell has a similar shape to the heart. This is reflected in Greek kardia ‘*heart’ for the species name of cockles. Cochlea [M16th], first found in English to mean a spiral staircase, from the Latin coclea ‘snail shell’ has been used for the spiral cavity of the inner ear since the 1690s. It too goes back to Greek konche. The other cockle [OE], for a plant that is a weed of cornfields, probably comes from Latin cocculus ‘little berry, seed’.