In the fifteenth century, the verb veoir and the vernacular phrase “to read with the heart” (lire au coeur) were used in French aristocratic texts to refer to private, silent reading, much as in earlier centuries videre, “to see,” and inspicere, “to gaze,” had been used as alternatives to legere, “to read.” At the same time, the word ecrire, “to write,” became, like scribere, its Latin equivalent, synonymous with composition.”

Paul Saenger, Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (California: Stanford, 1997). p. 268.