cross-linguistic metaphors (fwd)

[Dan Folkus]

My speculation is that your question may almost be answerable in
English, David. I'm wondering if the (archaic) English word for dusk,
"gloam" (twilight) http://www.myfavoriteword.com/2008/01/01/gloam/
might have a philological relationship to the word "glum?" Which is
the opposite of bright in the sense of daylight. But I'm not sure if
it also might mean the opposite of bright in the sense you mean (as in
'she said brightly,' for example, instead of 'she said glumly'). Glum
people are somewhat dull, right? So does gloam and glum come out of
the same origin? This blog at least speculates on the
word...http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2885/, saying it refers
to "persons: Sullen, frowning; having an air of dejection or
displeasure", or "Of things: Gloomy, dark; dismal". So I'm saying at
least there are these two senses of gloam, which MAY apply to your
question.

On 2/20/11, ROOD DAVID S <David.Rood at colorado.edu> wrote:
>
>
> 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
>