cross-linguistic metaphors (fwd)

[shokooh Ingham]

Dear David,
I know that Persian uses roshan fekr meaning 'bright in thought', rather like our 'enlightened', but I don't think it uses 'dark' or 'dim' in the same way. I don't think Arabic uses either, but I'll try to think about it a bit more.
Yours
Bruce

--- On Sun, 20/2/11, ROOD DAVID S <David.Rood at Colorado.EDU> wrote:

> From: ROOD DAVID S <David.Rood at Colorado.EDU>
> Subject: cross-linguistic metaphors (fwd)
> To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> Date: Sunday, 20 February, 2011, 15:11
> 
> 
> David S. Rood
> Dept. of Linguistics
> Univ. of Colorado
> 295 UCB
> Boulder, CO 80309-0295
> USA
> rood at colorado.edu
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 16:02:32 -0700 (MST)
> From: ROOD DAVID S <David.Rood at colorado.edu>
> To: linguistics faculty <ling-fac at lists.Colorado.EDU>
> Cc: linguistics grads <ling-grads at lists.Colorado.EDU>,
>     siounists at spot.colorado.edu
> Subject: cross-linguistic metaphors
> 
> 
> Dear Colleagues:
> 
>     I'm trying to tap into the biggest
> database I know of for knowledge of languages, namely all of
> you.  I have a query from someone who wants to know
> whether a language exists that does not equate "bright" and
> "dim" in the sense of light and shadow/dark with the same
> words used to describe intellectual acuity or lack
> thereof.  In English we can call people "bright" and
> "dim(witted)" to mean 'smart' and 'not so smart'.
> 
>  Do you know of a language that lacks that equation?
> 
>     Thanks for your help.
> 
> Best,
>     David
> 
> 
> David S. Rood
> Dept. of Linguistics
> Univ. of Colorado
> 295 UCB
> Boulder, CO 80309-0295
> USA
> rood at colorado.edu
>