The earliest confirmed form is Warring States 㤅. 旡 supplied the sound and 心 supplied the meaning. Later forms added 夂, and the old 旡 shape eventually developed into the familiar top of 愛. The lower part of 爱 was not invented in 1956: similar running-script forms existed centuries earlier, with 心 and 夂 joined into a 友-like shape. The 1956 simplification standardized 爱. The popular image of a hand covering a heart is a modern mnemonic, not the documented origin.