cross-linguistic metaphors (fwd)

[Rory M Larson]

Hi Iren,

> This is true, but there is a (maybe nowadays somewhat more 
old-fashioned(?)) use of hell(e) 'bright' in the sense of 
smart/intelligent/clever. You can call someone "ein helles Koepfchen" 
(lit. a bright head) meaning that person is smart, or you can say Der ist 
nicht so ganz helle ('He isn't quite so smart'), I guess it gets mostly 
used in negated sentences, though I've heard people say thigs like Der ist 
ziemlich helle ('He's quite smart'). I cannot, however, think of any 
metaphoric use of a word meaning 'dim/dark' and also something like 
dim-witted.

I think that one (hell) fully qualifies.  It's definitely a word meaning 
'bright' or 'luminous', and metaphorically 'intelligent'.

I wonder what its history is.  You describe its metaphorical use as 
possibly old-fashioned.  Would it be used that way prior to about the 18th 
or 19th century?

I'd also like to mention another German word that was shared with me 
privately by Dr. Marlene Hilzensauer.  "Unterbelichtet", literally 
"under-lighted", has the primary photographic meaning of 'underexposed', 
but is used metaphorically and humorously on a person to mean that they 
are a bit dim.

Best,
Rory
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