Colours, Metaphors and Emotions: What do ancient languages have to say?
CERES-Palais, Raum "Ruhrpott" (4.13)
Metaphor Talk by Dr. Camilla Di Biase-Dyson (Macquarie University, Sydney)
This paper will discuss colour metaphors used to describe emotional states in the Ancient Egyptian language and try to account for the predominance of the colour red. It is proposed that red’s prevalence as a figurative expression of emotion could be tied to embodied sensations of emotion, not just in Ancient Egyptian but in other languages from the Ancient Near East and Ancient Mediterranean. It is also proposed that the status of dšr 'red' as a relatively basic colour term could also play a role in its popularity as a metaphor. In short, it can be shown that Ancient Egyptian helps us synthesise tendencies in the expression of emotion that are present in many world languages.
