Emotion Metaphors Related to the Source Domain HEAT/FIRE in Ancient Texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt

Abstract

This study provides interdisciplinary insights into the conceptual metaphor emotion is HEAT/FIRE in ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian texts. Applying the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the article investigates instances of the conceptual metaphor emotion is HEAT/FIRE in Akkadian and ancient Egyptian, two languages of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Focusing on the emotions of love/desire as target domain, the study explores (dis)similarities in the metaphor’s uses and in the underlying conceptualisation of emotions in these two related languages. Case studies from both corpora reveal that ancient Egyptian and Akkadian texts employ a set of universal metaphors that are common cross-culturally/cross-linguistically and are grounded in bodily experience (including the metaphor the body is a container for emotions). However, the identified instances of the metaphor also display some culture-specific variations that are analysed through a close reading of the texts in their respective cultural contexts.