The interface between body and culture in the figurative conceptualization of the “eye” in Amharic

Abstract

Abstract Inspired by the notions of body-based and culturally specific embodiment, this study sheds light on the interface between body and culture in the Amharic conceptualization of ayn ‘eye.’ Applying the “lexical approach”, this paper examines the eye-related metaphors in Amharic monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. At the bodily level, the widespread conceptual metaphors knowing/thinking is seeing and eyes are light sources, and the metonymies eye for person and physiological (eye) change stands for an emotion are present in Amharic. In the cultural dimension, ayn is related to the concept of the “evil eye”, which associates the eye with mystical powers. However, contrary to the widespread superstitious belief of the “evil eye” in other cultures, the notion of the “evil eye” in Amharic is associated with the concept of buda--a class of people socially segregated due to their economic status and their supposedly accursed lineage. This study shows that the presence of similar conceptual metaphors (“vision-light”, “vision-knowledge”, and “eye-emotion/personality” metaphors) and cultural beliefs (the “evil eye”) in different languages/cultures does not necessarily entail equivalent conceptualization.