Metaphors of sensory experience in ancient Egyptian texts

Abstract

This chapter examines how emotional states and personal characteristics are described in terms of sensory experience in ancient Egyptian texts. Specifically, the authors observe how conceptual domains framed around external sensory impulses like temperatures, textures, colours and shades, sounds, tastes, and smells can portray, via lexical means, both states of being and temperaments. In so doing, they draw on methods of conceptually driven metaphor analysis, while remaining acutely aware of the singularities of the cultural output and mode of expression of the ancient Egyptians. The textual case studies reveal a comprehensive picture of how sensory metaphors and metonyms operate in relation to each other, both in synchronic perspective (where synonymic and antonymic relationships are key) and in diachronic perspective.