It is part of the human condition that people speak of what is happening in their minds by equating it with something familiar in the physical world. Although emotions are cognitive appraisals they are felt physically, and languages the world over tend to express them through body part metaphors. Body part metaphors (BPMs) can also serve as a useful way of expressing non-emotional cognitive states or processes such as believing, remembering, agreeing, etc. and of referring to temperamental qualities such as timid or lazy. They are widely used in the Oceanic-speaking world, as chapters 10 and 11 show.
The following are examples from a range of Oceanic languages.2
| Adm | Seimat | patu ailan | [head hard/strong] | ‘he is obstinate’ |
| NNG | Bukawa | titaʔ gi-wing ai | [belly.his it-accompany me] | ‘he loves me’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-tutu vovo-gu | [it-hammer body-my] | ‘I am excited’ |
| MM | Nakanai | la hate-la mamasi | [the liver-his salty] | ‘he is angry’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | rae hitari-a | [liver strikes-it] | ‘understand’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-bʷoŋ | [insides-darkness] | ‘be ignorant, forget’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | ye tewasi sexa-i | [this be.torn belly-my] | ‘I am grief-stricken’3 |
Particular feelings are expressed as a body part + a predicate, either verb, adjective or noun, specifying the nature of the feeling. The body part is inalienably possessed (§3.1.1). The BPM usually takes one of two syntactic shapes. In the first construction, the body part is subject of the clause and the modifying expression is the predicate. In the second, a compound is formed (e.g. Mota lolo-bʷoŋ above) which is then used as a predicate, and the affected person is typically the subject. Klamer (2001) finds both constructions in Central Malayo-Polynesian languages of eastern Indonesia, and it is reasonable to infer that they both occurred in Proto Central/Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, the shared ancestor of these languages and Oceanic, and were continued into POc.
Less often, the body part is object of a verb (e.g. ’Are’are rae hitari-a above). For purposes of comparison these expressions are generally given here in the way in which they are often included in wordlists, i.e. without grammatical elements.
In the examples of complex lexemes in this chapter and the following chapters, the same conventions are used as elsewhere. A monovalent (directly possessed) noun is shown with a final hyphen. Thus Takia ilo- ‘insides’ represents ilo-g ‘my insides’, ilo-n ‘her/his/its insides’ etc. In a few languages, e.g. Wayan Fijian, the possessor is marked by a prefix rather than a suffix, and the hyphen is thus initial rather than final. A transitive verb is also often shown with a final hyphen, indicating an object suffix, and verbs generally are sometimes shown with an initial hyphen, indicating a subject prefix. As a result, in a BPM a space between words is sometimes crucial. Thus in To’aba’ita manata- ruarua ‘be undecided, of two minds’ is a BPM in which manata- ‘mind’ + possessor suffix is the subject and ruarua ‘be two’ is the predicate, while manata-ruarua with the same meaning is a compound predicate.
The question to be explored here is whether expressions of this kind can be reconstructed for POc, and, if they can, what body-part nouns are implicated in these reconstructions. Reconstructions for specific terms for cognitive states, emotions and character attributes are found in chapters 10 and 11.
BPMs are one pattern for forming complex (polymorphemic) lexemes in Oceanic languages. Another widespread pattern is the serial verb construction.
Speakers of Oceanic languages typically identify emotions, temperamental qualities and some cognitive processes as emanating from either their liver, POc *qate- (§3.7.6), or a quasi-body part, POc *lalo-/lalom (vol.2:237), here translated as ‘insides’ or ‘mind’, although other body parts may be represented. Both are reconstructable at least as far back as PMP with both a literal and a metaphorical meaning.
A reading of the glosses in the following cognate set gives some idea of the breadth of the concept of POc *qate- ‘liver’ in various Oceanic languages.
| PAn | *qaCay | ‘liver’ (ACD) | |
| PMP | *qatay | ‘liver; seat of the emotions, inner self: core, mind, will, desire, feeling, intelligence, understanding; to want or wish; hollow of the palm of the hand or sole of the foot’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *qate- | ‘liver; seat of emotions and thoughts’ | |
| NNG | Mangap | kete- | ‘liver; chest; place of (often uncontrolled) feelings, used in many BPMs describing emotional states’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | ate- | ‘heart (as will), the centre of one’s being; loyalty’ |
| NNG | Bukawa | ataʔ | ‘belly, stomach (internal); seat of emotions’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ase- | ‘liver; seat of emotions’ |
| PT | Dobu | ʔate- | ‘liver, seat of emotion’ |
| PT | Motu | ase | ‘liver’ (used also in set phrase ase kuro tauna ‘a white liver of a [= brave] man’) |
| MM | Nakanai | hate- | ‘liver, seat of emotion; solar plexus’ |
| MM | Tangga | ete- | ‘liver or solar plexus, the seat of the emotions’ |
| SES | Kwaio | sae-~lae- | ‘liver’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae- | ‘heart, mind, liver, lungs, chest’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | rae- | ‘stomach, heart, liver, lungs, womb, mind, seat of affections, intention, will’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | ac | ‘liver, spleen; seat of bravery’ |
| Fij | Bauan | yate- | ‘the liver, considered as the seat of cowardice and courage’ |
| Fij | Wayan | ate | ‘the liver, traditionally considered the locus of courage and fear’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | ʔate | ‘liver’ |
| Pn | Tikopia | ate | ‘liver; in man a seat of emotions in traditional belief’ |
| Pn | Māori | ate | ‘liver; the seat of the affections; heart; emotion; spirit, high feeling’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | ake | ‘liver; to desire, yearn (the emotions and intelligence were thought to be centred in the body)’ |
Expressions based on *qate- are numerous and include:
| NNG | Gitua | ate mutu | [liver broken] | ‘surprised’ |
| NNG | Mutu | ate i mot | [liver it-broken] | ‘surprised, shocked, heart-broken, taken aback’ |
| NNG | Mutu | ate i zi | [liver it decreased] | ‘rest, calm down’ |
| NNG | Mutu | ate yabyab | [liver hurt] | ‘longing for s.t. one cannot have’ |
| NNG | Bukawa | ataʔ ŋade | [liver -his hot] | ‘angry’ |
| PT | Dobu | ʔate-ʔeidaida | [liver-crushed] | ‘afraid; fear’ |
| PT | Dobu | ʔate-gu i pisali | [liver-my it-explode] | ‘very angry’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ase-bou | [liver-dry] | ‘courage, boldness’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ase-ʔaulolo | [liver-in.pain] | ‘be greatly affrighted/grieved/in anguish’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ase-kolukolu | [liver-plucked] | ‘alarm, terror’ |
| PT | Motu | ase kuro | [liver white] | ‘brave’ |
| MM | Nakanai | la-hate-la raga | [the-liver-his leap] | ‘he is startled’ |
| MM | Nakanai | la hate-la mamasi | [the liver-his salty] | ‘he is angry’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae hiruʔa | [liver busy/engaged] | ‘preoccupied’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae asi | [liver throw.away] | ‘forgive, neglect’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae tataʔala | [liver bad] | ‘hate’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae rukeŋa | [liver joyful] | ‘joy’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae ʔaelaŋa | [liver evil] | ‘be evil-minded, greedy’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae maŋo | [liver finished] | ‘mental satisfaction’ |
| SES | Sa’a | sae huu | [liver sad] | ‘grieve’ |
| SES | Kwaio | lae-fou | [liver-stone] | ‘brave, unashamed’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | rae riki | [liver-sad] | ‘be sad, sorry’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | rae hitari-a | [liver strikes-it] | ‘understand’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | eccelok acin | [without liver] | ‘he is not brave’ |
| Fij | Bauan | yate dei | [liver firm] | ‘courageous’ |
| Fij | Bauan | yate levu | [liver large] | ‘cowardly’ |
| Fij | Wayan | ate levu | [liver large] | ‘cowardly’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | kai ʔate | [eat liver] | ‘talk badly about others, gossip’ |
It is worth noting here that while *qate- emotion BPMs are numerous in Western Oceanic languages and Sa’a, and to a lesser degree in ’Are’are and Kwaio, they are scarce elsewhere. Motu, Marshallese and Bauan and Wayan Fijian reserve ‘liver’ for use in expressions of bravery and cowardice. François (2013:204) notes that reflexes of Proto Torres-Banks *vara ‘liver’ are only used in daughter languages in expressions of awe and fear.4 Although the liver is recorded as linked to emotion in four Polynesian languages, Rennellese, Tikopia, Maori and Hawaiian, compound terms containing a reflex of *qate- have been found only in Rennellese (kai ʔate [eat liver] ‘talk badly about others, gossip’ and hekaiʔki oku ʔate [eat of one’s own liver] ‘be very angry’). Firth (1985) records that in Tikopia ate occurred only in ancient speech involving traumatic situations.
A number of languages have replaced their term for ‘liver’ in emotion and cognition BPMs with one for ‘belly’ or ‘heart’, terms that for our purposes here are regarded as equivalent. A Huon Gulf language, Yabem, uses tɪtaʔ ‘belly, bowels, stomach’ from tɪ ‘liver, lung’+ taʔ ‘excrement’, in its body part metaphors. While the Arosi dictionary glosses sae (from *qate-) as ‘mind, heart, thought; only in phrases’, many relevant terms are instead compounded with ahu ‘belly, heart, mind, feelings’. Although Kwaio uses lae ~ sae for some emotions (lae-fou ‘brave, unashamed’, lae-nia ‘desire, like, love’), it uses oga ‘belly, mind’ for angry-type terms (oga-lia ‘be angry, sorry’). To’aba’ita uses rake ‘belly’ for expressions of anger, courage and fear. Lau also uses rake ‘stomach; heart, mind, seat of affections’ for expressions of anger: rake aŋoaŋo [belly hot] ‘be angry’, rake ʔiri [belly cut] ‘be violent, angry’, but extends it to other feelings: rake diana [belly good] ‘to be kind and generous’, rake moumoula [belly afraid] ‘timid, afraid’, rake sasu [belly smoking] ‘sulky’, rake fanefane [belly excited] ‘impetuous, in a hurry’. Other languages may equate ‘heart’ in this sense with ‘liver’ in some contexts. Two closely related North Coast languages Gedaged and Takia, apparently extend the meaning of bube-, a term for liver, to refer also to the heart as the seat of emotion.
The second term, POc *lalo-, *lalom, glossed ‘inside’ in vol.2(237), also occurs widely with the additional meaning ‘mind, seat of thoughts and emotions’. The form *lalo- is the directly possessed (monovalent; §§3.1.1–2) form of the zero-valency noun *lalom, and the latter is henceforth used in the text as a proxy for both forms. Dictionary glosses of reflexes of *lalom refer to ‘mind’ in languages of North New Guinea, Papuan Tip, Southeast Solomonic, both North/Central and South Vanuatu, Micronesia and Fijian, and there are frequent examples of both emotional and non-emotional cognitive states in the metaphors collected.
| PMP | *dalem | ‘inside, interior; seat of emotions’ (Blust 1993: ‘inside, interior’) | |
| PCEMP | *daləm | ‘inside; mind, feelings’ (Blust 2009b: 66) 5 | |
| POc | *lalo-, *lalom | [(N, N Loc) ] ‘inside; seat of thoughts and emotions’ | |
| NNG | Mutu | lolo- | ‘inside; metaphor for one’s feelings, emotions, intentions’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | ilon- | ‘inside; seat of thought, will and emotions and therefore heart; mind, self, soul, contents of memory’ |
| NNG | Yabem | (ŋa)lɪlʊm | ‘inside; seat of emotions’ |
| NNG | Mangap | lele- | ‘insides; will; seat of emotions (mostly controlled)’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo- | ‘the inside; the mind’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-a | [VT] ‘to think, remember’ |
| PT | Lala | lalo- | ‘the mind’ |
| PT | Muyuw | nanon | ‘mind, thoughts’ |
| PT | Kilivila | nano- | ‘mind, intelligence’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo- | ‘inside’ |
| SES | Arosi | raro- | ‘the inside, inner part; the feelings, heart, mind, disposition’ |
| PNCV | *lolo- | ‘inside; heart, seat of feelings and thoughts’ | |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-i | ‘the inner part; the inward part of man, heart, affections’ |
| NCV | Nokuku | lolo-n | ‘in his heart’ |
| NCV | Lonwolwol | lol | ‘the seat of affections or feelings; the heart’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn | ‘inside, interior, middle; seat of some emotions, cognitive processes and body states’ |
| PSV | *leli- | ‘heart, seat of feelings, insides’ | |
| SV | Kwamera | reri- | ‘internal portion, insides, heart, mind, feeling, emotion’ |
| SV | Anejom̃ | lele- | ‘heart, seat of emotions’ |
| PMic | *lalo- | ‘seat of emotions, mind’ | |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano- | ‘soul, conscience, hearts, will, desire, sentiment, opinion, conviction, disposition, inclination etc.’ |
| Mic | Mokilese | lɔlɔ | ‘inside’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | raro | ‘inside, mind, heart’ |
| Fij | Bauan | loma- | ‘inside: used in many compounds denoting temperamental qualities’ |
The following is a selection of terms containing reflexes of *lalo-:
| NNG | Mutu | lolo i taŋ | [insides it weep] | ‘yearn for s.t.’ |
| NNG | Mutu | lolo i sami | [insides it dirtied/ruined] | ‘be sad, lonely, downhearted, have pity’ |
| NNG | Mutu | lolo i gur | [insides it placed] | ‘think about, concentrate on’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | ilo-n gage | [insides-his bare/enlarged] | ‘rational, logical, intelligent, shrewd, astute’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | ilo-n daŋan | [insides-his entire] | ‘wise, considerate, determined, energetic, forceful’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | ilo-n kebaze | [insides-his crosswise] | ‘thwarted; astonished, at a loss, wondering’ |
| NNG | Yabem | (ŋa) wapaʔ | [(its)insides heavy] | ‘grief-stricken’ |
| NNG | Mangap | lele isāna | [insides deteriorate] | ‘feel sorry for s.o., compassionate’ |
| NNG | Mangap | lele aᵐbai | [insides good] | ‘happy, contented, at peace; grateful; free from worry, care, anger or sorrow’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-haraga | [insides-quick/easy] | ‘eager’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-siahu | [insides-hot] | ‘angry’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-hesiku | [insides-unwilling] | ‘disheartened, fed up, weary of’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-auka | [insides-firm] | ‘self-restrained, fearless’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-haguhi | [insides-thinking.about] | ‘anxious; consider’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-metau | [insides-heavy] | ‘unwilling’ |
| PT | Motu | lalo-tamona | [insides-in.unity] | ‘agree’ |
| PT | Lala | lalo nama | [insides fat] | ‘happy’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-buruko | [inside-sad] | ‘mournful, sad, disturbed’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-vilovi | [insides-greedy] | ‘greedy’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-tavu | [insides-summon/grasp] | ‘mindful’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-anu | [insides-irritated/annoyed] | ‘ill-feeling’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-magarosa | [insides-pity] | ‘merciful’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-wia | [insides-good] | ‘good-hearted, kindly’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-malumlum | [insides-gentle] | ‘soft-hearted, of easy temper’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-varuarua | [insides-in.two.directions] | ‘doubtful, hesitating’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-gagara | [insides-bite/itchy] | ‘angry, irritated’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-maran | [insides-daylight] | ‘enlightened, intelligent; remember’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-bʷoŋ | [insides-darkness] | ‘ignorant; forget’ |
| NCV | Mota | lolo-wono | [insides-blocked] | ‘sad, sorrowful, melancholic’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn mese | [insides clear] | ‘remember’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn voboŋ | [insides in darkness] | ‘ignorant; forget’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn-von | [insides-blocked] | ‘surprised, fall unconscious’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn māhisi | [insides pity] | ‘feel sorry for’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ēn kās | [insides sweet] | ‘happy’ |
| NCV | Araki | lolo-koru | [insides-dry/desiccated/burnt] | ‘angry’ |
| NCV | Tamambo | lolo-korukoru | [insides-drying.out/dying] | ‘cross, angry’ |
| NCV | Tamambo | lolo-jivo | [insides-go.down] | ‘patient’ |
| NCV | Nokuku | lolo-n oora | [insides-its dark] | ‘forget’ |
| SV | Kwamera | reri-ragien | [insides-??] | ‘happy’ |
| SV | Kwamera | reri-rarhi | [insides-??] | ‘remember, recall’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-aŋa | [insides-warm] | ‘compassion, pity, sympathy’ (aŋa ‘to warm oneself at fire’) |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-puaka | [insides-bad] | ‘resentment, bitterness, rancour, spite, ill-feeling’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-ata | [insides-skull.of.dead] | ‘to have foreboding, suspicion’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-matoa | [insides-firm] | ‘strong-willed, strong, constant, energetic’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-kawa | [insides-miserable/pitied] | ‘unhappy, sad, desolate, broken-hearted’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-paraki | [insides-capsized/turned over] | ‘dejected, discouraged, cast down’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-mano | [insides-impervious, water-tight] | ‘discreet, deep, sly, sullen’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nano-mara | [insides-decomposing.fish] | ‘disgusted, sick, discouraged’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | raro-ilaŋi | [insides-typhoon] | ‘be worried, frightened, insecure’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | raro-mʷeiu | [insides-period.of.time] | ‘feel sad, lonely’ |
| Mic | Mokilese | lɔ-leid | ‘lonely, homesick’ | |
| Mic | Mokilese | lɔ-mʷ | ‘afraid, wary’ | |
| Mic | Chuukese | ɾɔɾīɾeɾ (ɾɔɾu-iɾeɾ) | ‘sorrow, concern, regret, unease, worry’ | |
| Mic | Chuukese | ɾɔɾɔwɔ (ɾɔɾu-wɔ̄) | [insides-face] | ‘feel spiteful, envious’ |
| Fij | Bauan | loma-ðā | [insides-bad] | ‘evil-minded, malicious’ |
| Fij | Bauan | lomaloma-rua | [insides-double] | ‘be in two minds’ |
| Fij | Bauan | loma qā | [insides shell-hard] | ‘hard-minded, headstrong’ |
| Fij | Bauan | loma kasa | [insides immobile] | ‘have retentive memory’ |
It is worth noting from the above that few BPMs have been located from Meso-Melanesian languages and none from the Southeast Solomons. Gaps in the former may be due simply to lack of data, while in the latter, terms other than *lalom reflexes are now used. Although Arosi has a reflex of *lalom, its role in BPMs of emotion is filled by ahu or hau both forms glossed ‘belly, mind, feelings, particularly in compounds’.
As well as varying their term for ‘liver’ by employing a broadly equivalent term such as ‘belly’ or ‘heart’, as in Yabem, Gedaged, Takia, Kwaio, Lau, Arosi and To’aba’ita and no doubt others, languages may also use other body part terms, particularly those for ‘mouth/voice’ and ‘face’, as these body parts play a significant role in expressing feeling. Takia (NNG) speakers, for instance, use awa- ‘mouth, voice’ (from POc *qawa ‘mouth, opening’; §3.4.12.3) in BPMs meaning ‘agree’, ‘obey’ (follow s.o.’s mouth), ‘believe’, ‘accuse’, ‘promise’ and ‘answer’.
In Takia (Ross, pers. comm.) although the majority of terms to do with the emotions and the mind come from ilo- (from POc *lalo-), smaller roles are played by bube- ‘liver’ (replacing ate-), awa- ‘mouth, voice’ and nao- ‘face’ (from POc *nako-; §3.4.7).
| NNG | Takia | ilo- wei | [insides- many] | ‘be in doubt’ |
| NNG | Takia | ilo- murua- | [insides- heavy-it] | ‘be sad’ |
| NNG | Takia | bube- yai i-nani | [liver fire it-cook] | ‘very angry’ |
| NNG | Takia | bube- sakar | [liver hard/firm/strong] | ‘hard-hearted, stubborn’ |
| NNG | Takia | awa- i-loŋ | [mouth it-follow] | ‘obey, believe’ |
| NNG | Takia | awa-uraru | [mouth-two] | ‘two-faced, hypocritical’ |
| NNG | Takia | nao- i-didi | [face- it-swell] | ‘be stony-faced, impassive’ |
In Kiriwina (PT; Lawton n.d.b), BPMs that refer to a person’s feelings and inner states may come from the body (vovo-, from PWOc *popo- ‘the complete skin’; §3.2.1), mind (nano-6), belly (lopo-), head (daba-) and eye (mata-, from POc *mata-; §3.4.9.1). Thus:
| PT | Kilivila | i-tutu vovo-gu | [it-hammers body-my] | ‘I am excited’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-kubukubu nano-gu | [it-quivers mind-my] | ‘I am astonished’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-yowa lopo-la | [it-flew belly-his] | ‘He leapt in surprise’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-kapisi lopo-la | [it-feels pity belly-her] | ‘She is sorry/mourns/feels pity’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-minimani daba-la | [it-tough/strong head-his] | ‘he is stubborn’ |
| PT | Kilivila | i-gibu mati-la | [it-passive eye-his] | ‘he sulks, is sullen’ |
Lawton lists numerous examples of near synonyms where only the body part is varied (e.g. i‑mama mati-la [it-weary eye-his] vs i-mama nona [it-weary mind] and others where different contexts are appropriate (iluva nona [body happy through shared food] vs i-bʷaina nona [it- good mind] vs i-mʷasila nona [it-shy mind], all three loosely translated by ‘happy’. Many such metaphors are capable of varying interpretations and may require context of situation to be fully understood. By such means, Kiriwina speakers have hundreds of ways in which they can express mental states.
The adoption of other body part terms has evolved in various ways in daughter languages, muddying further a straightforward division between *qate- and *lalom BPMs. In Papuan Tip and Southeast Solomonic languages, specific terms for ‘mind’ serve as the base term for mental states. A number of Papuan Tip languages have largely replaced *lalo- reflexes with reflexes of PPT *nua-, reflecting POc *nuka- ‘mind, thought’ (§10.3), in labelling their mental states while retaining their *qate- reflexes.
| PT | Dobu | nua-yai | [mind/insides-hold.firmly] | ‘remember’ |
| PT | Dobu | ʔate pisali | [liver explode] | ‘very angry’ |
| PT | Minaveha | nua vi-avini | [mind/insides it-hold] | ‘remember s.o., s.t.’ |
| PT | Minaveha | nua-pania | [mind/insides-harden] | ‘forget s.t.’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | nuwa aboda-na | [mind/insides untidy/uncleared-it] | ‘closed mind’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ase kolukolu | [liver plucked] | ‘alarm, terror’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | ate-vatu | [liver-strong] | ‘being unmoved, bold, brave’ |
The two reflexes in combination may have originally meant feeling something ‘inside the liver’:
| PT | Dobu | ʔate-nua-ʔoleʔole | [liver-inside-pity] | ‘compassion’ |
| PT | Minaveha | ate-nuanuai | [liver-inside-at] | ‘have compassion, sympathy’ |
Some Malaitan languages of the southeast Solomons, (Lau, Kwaio and To’aba’ita) use reflexes of POc *manaca(m) ‘think, understand, think about…’ (§10.3), glossed below as ‘mind’ as a base term for temperamental qualities and cognitive states. (Gela has manaha ‘to know, understand, appreciate’, but no compounds are listed.) ’Are’are speakers use it rather to describe behaviour.
| SES | Lau | manata buro | [mind rust] | ‘forget’ |
| SES | Lau | manata ofu | [mind together/whole] | ‘have common sense’ |
| SES | Lau | manata mamana | [mind true] | ‘believe’ |
| SES | Kwaio | manata fana | [mind hunt] | ‘think about, remember’ |
| SES | Kwaio | manata dalia | [mind find] | ‘remember, recall’ |
| SES | Kwaio | manata ʔafu | [mind complete] | ‘know all about’ |
| SES | Kwaio | manata oli | [mind return] | ‘have second thoughts about’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | manata dora | [mind not.know] | ‘forget s.t.’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | manata leqalā | [mind goodness] | ‘good thinking, wisdom’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | manata kuluqalā | [mind heavy] | ‘sadness’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | manata siani | [behaviour good] | ‘behave correctly’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | manata ori | [behaviour returned/changed] | ‘correct oneself’ |
The term for mouth/voice seems to have evolved into voice/throat independently in different places, occurring in non-cognate form as a base term in Mapos Buang (NNG), some southeast Solomonic languages (Gela, Bugotu, Lau and To’aba’ita), the Vanikoro languages of Temotu, and Marshallese. This may have evolved from the belief that the mind resides in the throat or larynx, as described by Malinowski for Kiriwina.
Malinowski, describing Trobriand Island magic, writes:
The mind, nanola, by which term intelligence, power of discrimination, capacity for learning magical formulae and all forms of non-manual skill are described, as well as moral qualities, resides somewhere in the larynx. The natives will always point to the organs of speech, where the nanola resides. … The memory, however, the store of formulae and traditions, learned by heart, resides deeper, in the belly. A man will be said to have a good nanola when he can acquire many formulae, but though they enter through the larynx, naturally, as he learns them, repeating word for word, he has to stow them away in a bigger and more commodious receptacle; they sink right down to the bottom of his abdomen. (1922:408-409)
Senft, whose Trobriand fieldwork was carried out some seventy years after Malinowski, records a similar belief. His informant explained what happens when he whispers his magic formulae. As Senft translates it, “If I whisper magic, the magic(al formula) will go from the belly to my larynx and then I whisper magic. I speak (the) magic(al formula).” (1998:89). The larynx is thus recognised as the active agent or vehicle of the brain and mind.
That this belief is widespread is demonstrated by the following phrases recorded by Firth (1985) in his Tikopia dictionary:
te maanatu e fai i te manava, ki te atami ‘memory is produced in the belly by the mind’
te atami te taŋata ena i na manava, fenatu ki na ŋutu, muna rei ‘the thoughts of a person are there in his belly, come up to his mouth, and he speaks’
while a Woleaian term from Sohn & Tawerilmang’s (1976) dictionary reinforces the same idea:
segali (VT) ‘remember it (in his stomach instead of his mind)’.7
Mapos Buang (NNG) has a term kʷa-, defined by Rambok & Hooley (2010) as ‘neck, throat; mind, will; idea, thought’, and reflecting POc *kʷa ‘say’. which occurs as a base in BPMs for emotions, including kʷa-paya ‘miserable, unhappy, sad’, kʷa-pesivin ‘sorry for/ compassionate’ and kʷa-ketuin ‘sorry, sad, depressed, miserable’ as well as for a number of temperamental qualities—kʷa-srɛsk ‘cunning’, kʷa-veroq ‘carefree’, kʷa-tupin ‘quick-witted’— and cognitive states (kʷa luu ‘doubtful’, kʷa-seyohek ‘confused’, kʷa-virek(in) ‘forget’.
The term for ‘throat’, found as a basis for emotion and cognition BPMs in Gela, Bugotu, Lau and To’aba’ita, reflects POc *liqoR ‘neck, voice’. In Gela it appears to have become the generic base for all emotions while in Lau and To’aba’ita it may have referred to actual voice quality. It may also be simply a literal description of a physical state as in the Lau expression for ‘thirsty’, literally ‘dry throat’.
| SES | Gela | lio padi | [voice lacking] | ‘confused, puzzled; ashamed’ |
| SES | Gela | lio dika | [voice bad] | ‘sad, sorry’ |
| SES | Gela | lio papara | [hot voice] | ‘keen, zealous’ |
| SES | Gela | lio patu | [voice hard] | ‘daring, brave’ |
| SES | Gela | lio sakai | [voice one] | ‘single-minded; faithful, loyal’ |
| SES | Bugotu | lio sikei | [voice one] | ‘determined/resolute’ |
| SES | Lau | lio rodoa | [voice dark] | ‘sad’ |
| SES | Lau | lio sasu | [voice smoking/burning] | ‘angry’ |
| SES | Lau | lio mābe | [voice soft] | ‘peaceable, quiet, meek’ |
| SES | Lau | lio lalaŋa | [voice dry] | ‘thirsty’ |
| SES | Lau | ro si lio | [two of voice] | ‘in two voices’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | lio dila | [voice sliding] | ‘be very sad, dejected, heartbroken’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | lio dora | [voice not.know] | ‘forget s.t., forget to do s.t.’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | lio toqo | [voice learned/informed] | ‘be knowledgeable, talented, gifted, wise’ |
The Vanikoro languages in the Temotu group also treat the neck or throat as the seat of emotions and feelings. Although terms for ‘throat’ are not cognate in the three languages quoted, semantic collocations are identical and morphosyntactic constructions largely correspond:
| TM | Vano | warene gamitu i-tu | [throat we it-blocked] | ‘we are sorry/sad’ |
| TM | Tanema | vasare gamuto i-to | [throat we it-blocked] | ‘we are sorry/sad’ |
| TM | Buma | awa kupa i-su | [throat we it-blocked] | ‘we are sorry/sad’ |
| TM | Buma | awa ene i-aka | [throat I it-blow] | ‘I am angry’(François 2009: 120) |
Marshallese, apparently alone among Micronesian languages, also uses ‘throat’ (bōro) as a base for temperamental qualities:
| Mic | Marshallese | bōro jepel | [throat diverging/separate] | ‘disagree, non-cooperative’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | bōro kadu | [throat short] | ‘short-tempered’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | bōro pejpej | [throat shallow] | ‘fickle, unstable’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | bōro lap | [throat big] | ‘wasteful, spendthrift’ |
François (2013:204) notes that Torres-Banks languages occasionally describe certain feelings using other body parts – such as the diaphragm (Proto Torres-Banks *mʷala) for surprise; the belly (*toᵐbʷa, from POc *tobʷa- ‘belly, stomach’; §3.7.4) for desire; the liver (*vara) for awe and fear, while the head (*bʷatu, from POc *bʷatu(k) ‘head’; §3.4.2.2) refers to mind, intelligence: Mwotlap ni-bʷti na-wak ‘your head is open’ , i.e. ‘you’re open-minded, you have a curious mind’.
In Proto Polynesian, POc *lalom shifted its primary sense to ‘under’. Its place was taken by PPn *loto, both in the sense of ‘inside’ and, used with a modifying element, ‘a particular kind of feeling, desire or disposition’.
| Pn | Tongan | loto kovi | ‘ill-disposed, disagreeable, malicious’ (kovi ‘bad, harmful, evil, wrong’) |
| Pn | Niuean | loto kai | ‘be greedy, selfish’ (kai ‘eat’) |
| Pn | Pukapukan | loto kino | ‘high-tempered, hard to calm down’ (kino ‘bad, awful’) |
| Pn | Samoan | loto leaŋa | ‘jealous, envious’ (leaŋa ‘bad, evil’) |
| Pn | Tokelauan | loto-tele | ‘brave, confident’ (tele ‘travel under sail’) |
| Pn | Hawaiian | loko ʔino | ‘merciless, cruel’ (ʔino ‘wicked, immoral, sinful’) |
As Gerber explains it in her exploration of Samoan emotion,
The loto can perhaps best be described as a quasi-organ. When asked where their loto is, Samoans nearly always indicate their chests; in fact they are inclined to translate the word in English as ‘heart’. They nevertheless recognise that the loto is not the same as the physical heart, fatu. In its function, the loto apparently serves as the origin of a number of feelings, desires and thoughts which arise inside a person. Some external circumstance will cause “something to happen” or “something to arise” in the loto. But Samoans believe that some things can simply grow in the loto for no apparent reason. (Gerber 1985:187).
For example,
| Pn | Samoan | loto vāivai | [loto weak/tired] | ‘timid’ |
| Pn | Samoan | loto tele | [loto much] | ‘brave’ |
| Pn | Samoan | loto malie | [loto sweet] | ‘cooperative, compliant’ |
Although Samoan has a nominalised verb, laŋona (from the verb ‘to feel, perceive with the senses’), that groups together what we would refer to as feelings (anger, love) and sensations (pain), the more emotional laŋona can be distinguished by the fact that they are thought to occur in the loto, while physical sensations stem from the body (Gerber:187).
Polynesian languages have a way of identifying that a feeling is an enduring disposition rather than a transient emotion by substituting reflexes of PPn *aŋa ‘habit, custom, way of acting’ for *loto. Thus:
| Pn | Tongan | loto fiemālie | ‘contented, satisfied’ |
| Pn | Tongan | aŋa fiemālie | ‘of a contented and easy-going disposition’ |
This may lead to distinctions in meaning, as in
| Pn | Samoan | loto leaŋa | ‘jealous of, be envious of’ | |
| Pn | Samoan | aŋa leaŋa | ‘unkind, cruel’ | |
| Pn | Samoan | loto vāivai | [loto weak/tired] | ‘timid, afraid’ |
| Pn | Samoan | aŋa vāivai | ‘gentle, mild-tempered’ |
POc speakers wishing to express their feelings evidently had a choice between *qate- and *lalom, both reconstructed here with similar meanings. In this situation it is likely that they were used in subtly different ways. The two may be represented as lying at opposite ends of a continuum that spans emotions, temperamental qualities and non-emotional cognitive states, all involving some kind of mental processing but not all involving strong physical expression. For instance, there are feelings such as boredom and compassion and perplexity that may be described as both an emotion and a mental state, and if the continuum serves as a measure of physical expression these will be placed somewhere in the middle. It is apparent from the glosses given to the *qate- reflexes above that emotion is emphasised rather than mind (mind is mentioned in the definition of the term only in SES languages). In contrast, the *lalom reflexes refer to mind in all subgroups. Those Papuan Tip languages that use *nua- ‘mind/ insides’ as a base for their cognitive states have used it to replace *lalom reflexes while retaining their *qate- reflexes. Closer examination of languages where we have reasonable amounts of data and where the relevant data is largely limited to BPMs using either ‘liver/belly/ heart’ or ‘insides’ may throw further light.
In his Gedaged (NNG) dictionary, Mager gives roughly equal space, numbering several dozen BPMs, to both those with bube- ‘liver; heart as the seat of emotions, feelings, character’, and those with ilon- (reflecting *lalom) ‘insides; seat of thought, will and emotions, and therefore in this sense the heart; mind, self, contents of memory’. Overwhelmingly, emotions accompanied by strong physical feeling (gleeful, distraught, discouraged, in turmoil etc.) and temperamental qualities (cowardly, proud, meek) are linked with bube-, while mental states and processes (comprehend, determine, reflect, decide etc.) occur with ilon-.
Takia, closely related to Gedaged, also divides the field between bube- ‘liver; heart as the seat of emotions, feelings, character’ and ilo- ‘insides; seat of thought, will and emotions’ (Bruce Waters, unpublished vocabulary). Although in broad terms bube- is used for emotions such as ‘amazed, ‘very angry, ‘heart-felt satisfaction, and ‘hard-hearted, it is found in fewer than 20 BPMs; ilo- with over 200 examples, has a far wider range, including ‘desire’, ‘forget’, ‘forgive’, ‘tempt’, ‘worry’, ‘dislike’, ‘believe’, ‘agree’, ‘delight’, ‘be happy’, ‘afraid’, ‘confused’, ‘sad’, ‘relieved’, ‘confident’ and so on, feelings that might be thought of mainly as states of mind rather than emotional states.
Bugenhagen (2001) has endeavoured to summarise the situation in another NNG language. In a comparison between the various body part terms employed in Mangap-Mbula, Bugenhagen (p95) writes that body image expressions containing kete ‘liver, chest’ (from *qate-) never express pure cognition. He adds (p96) that “the preeminent emotional function of kete- is to express rash, impetuous responses which are not well thought through, and strong emotions like anger”. In contrast, lele (from *lalom) is rarely used to express any sort of physical sensation or experience. The examples he gives with lele (pp87–94) include more controlled emotions like feeling contented, sorry for someone, troubled about something, anxious, relieved, and a variety of cognitive functions like choosing, doubting, approving.
| NNG | Mangap | kete imap | [liver end] | ‘be astonished, have one’s breath taken away’ |
| NNG | Mangap | lele iurur | [insides be.putting] | ‘perplexed, not knowing what one wants to do’ |
| NNG | Mangap | lele iᵐbol | [insides strong/firm] | ‘not easily persuaded to do things’ |
Very few Nakanai BPMs are found in Chowning’s (2014) data, but those few support the theory that in general *qate- is favoured for impetuous, strong emotions while *lalom is preferred for non-emotional cognitive concepts:
| MM | Nakanai | la hate-la raga | [the liver -his leap] | ‘he is startled’ |
| MM | Nakanai | la hate-la mamasi | [the liver-his salty] | ‘he is angry’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-buruko | [insides-sad] | ‘mournful, sad, disturbed’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-vilovi | [insides-greedy] | ‘greedy’ |
| MM | Nakanai | ilo-tavu | [insides-summon/grasp] | ‘mindful’ |
However, there are examples from Yabem that indicate that the choice between ‘belly, bowels, stomach’ or ‘insides’ is made on grounds that are more difficult to discern. Zahn & Streicher’s Yabem dictionary lists about two dozen BPMs based on ŋalɪlʊm ‘inside; heart, as seat of emotions’ (from *lalom) and over a hundred based on têtaʔ ‘belly, bowels, stomach’ whose meaning is perhaps better captured by ‘guts’. A striking property of these is that a dozen or so entries can be used with either base term, with little or no apparent change in meaning:
| NNG | Yabem | tɪtaʔ lulu | [guts.his twofold] | ‘he is in doubt’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋalɪlʊm lulu | [his.insides-twofold] | ‘he is in doubt’ |
| NNG | Yabem | tɪtaʔ kekaʔ aɪ | [guts.his pulls me] | ‘I feel compelled’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋalɪlʊm kekaʔ aɪ | [insides pull me] | ‘I feel compelled’ |
| NNG | Yabem | tɪtaʔ ŋawapaʔ | [guts.his heavy] | ‘anxious, depressed, grieves, mourns’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋalɪlʊm ŋawapaʔ | [his.insides heavy] | ‘heavy-hearted, full of sorrow, dispirited’ |
| NNG | Yabem | tɪtaʔ ŋadani | [guts.his thicket] | ‘disinclined, is uneasy, anxious, has misgivings, unwilling, uncooperative, ungrateful’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋalɪlʊm ŋadani | [his.insides thicket] | ‘hard-hearted, inaccessible, reserved, taciturn’ |
| NNG | Yabem | tɪtaʔ kɪtu malʊ | [guts.his it.stand peaceful] | ‘contented, happy’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋalɪlʊm kɪtu malʊ | [his.insides it.stand peaceful] | ‘appeased’ |
Choice of term here evidently depends on finer points of personal interpretation of circumstances, unknown to those outside the situation. Perhaps for some emotions the speaker can choose whether to emphasise the physical nature of the feeling by using têtaʔ (e.g. ‘happy’) or indicate that other circumstances are involved by using ŋalêlôm (e.g. ‘appeased’).
Further insight is raised by McElhanon (1977) regarding the relative uses of ‘belly’ vs ‘insides’ in Selepet, a non-Austronesian language of the Huon Gulf whose expressions closely parallel those in this chapter. McElhanon writes:
A working assumption is that the cognitive space allotted to the psychological function of any given body part is discrete. Therefore, if a lexicographer cites two or more body parts as constituting, for example, the ‘seat of the emotions’, it is possible that some basic and distinctive feature of the system has been overlooked. In the early stages of Selepet lexicography the analysts listed both the ‘belly’ and the ‘inside’ as representing the seat of the emotions. This was only superficially true because further investigation revealed that the former represents one’s emotions in a sociological context and expresses such feelings as generosity, approval, desire, lust, jealousy, loneliness, pity, selfishness, and reconciliation. The latter reflects one’s personal attitude or frame of mind and expresses feeling and attitudes such as diligence, faithfulness, tenacity, eagerness, anticipation, excitement, satisfaction, despair, anxiety and regret. Furthermore, it is used of one’s emotions and attitudes about others only if they are members of one’s immediate family. (McElhanon 1977:10)
The insights of Bugenhagen and McElhanon indicate that the distinction in meaning between ‘belly/liver’ and ‘insides’ may be very subtle, possibly varying from language to language, and difficult to identify even by those with a close familiarity with the language. Dictionary definitions do not provide enough scope for a researcher to identify such subtlties. Perhaps the best that can be claimed is that, in POc daughter languages, emotions accompanied by a strong physical sensation are more likely to be linked with *qate- reflexes while non-emotional mental states tend to use reflexes of *lalom. However, choice of term may be influenced by finer points of personal interpretation or other circumstances, unknown to those outside the situation. The question of POc usage can probably not be more clearly defined without detailed semantic analysis of a range of languages across the Oceanic region, far beyond the scope of the present study.
However, notwithstanding the above, *qate- remains preeminently the source of bravery in its reflexes. The only qualities expressed by *qate-based metaphors in Motu, Marshallese, and Bauan and Wayan Fijian, are those to do with bravery or its lack:
| PT | Motu | ase kuro | [liver white] | ‘brave’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | eccelok acin | [liver without] | ‘he is not brave’ |
| Fij | Bauan | yate levu | [liver big] | ‘coward’ |
| Fij | Bauan | yate lialia | [liver foolish] | ‘courageous’ |
| Fij | Wayan | ate levu | [liver big] | ‘coward’ |
When used as a general expression of emotion, i.e. without additional contextual information, the modifying terms tend to cluster around a limited number of physical attributes, e.g. (be) ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘heavy’, ‘big’, ‘hot’, ‘hard’ and so on, terms that metaphorically evoke the physical state of the experiencer when feeling happy, sad, angry and so on. Reflexes of POc *(p,pʷ)atu ‘outer shell, skull’ (§3.4.2.1), by extension, ‘firm, strong, unyielding’, are readily applied to qualities like ‘stubborn’ or ‘brave’. More extreme emotions can be expressed more vividly—a Lau BPM meaning ‘angry/violent’ is rake ʔiri (rake ‘heart, mind, seat of affections’; ʔiri ‘to chop up; impale’), while Samoan loto-momomo ‘grief-stricken’ includes momomo ‘smashed in pieces’. Others like Lau lio rodoa [voice dark] ‘sad’ and lio mābe [voice soft] ‘peaceable, quiet, meek’ literally describe voice quality. Expressions of sadness may include a verb meaning ‘hang the head’, e.g. Gela lio ligi (lio ‘seat of emotions’; ligi ‘descend’). The Lau BPM for ‘envy/jealousy’ is ŋunu-ŋunu, from ŋunu ‘to murmur, whisper’. The Mota expression lolo suwa-suwa ‘loathing, feeling of repulsion’ includes suwa ‘bow down and draw back’.
However, the biggest difficulty in capturing adequate translations of these metaphors is that modifying words with the same basic meaning are capable of varying English interpretations. Reflexes of POc *wai-waiR ‘watery’ are found in Samoan loto vāivai ‘timid, faint-hearted’, while its Tokelauan cognate, loto vāivai is glossed ‘discouraged, unhappy’. Mota vara lava and Bauan Fijian yate levu both have the literal meaning ‘liver big’ translatable as ‘coward, cowardly’ while Tongan loto lahi (loto big) is given the opposite interpretation, ‘brave/bold/ determined’. Bauan Fijian has two expressions that may be roughly translated as ‘courageous’: yate dei (‘firm, unwavering liver’) and yate lialia (‘mad, foolish liver’), thus including additional components of meaning not present in the English term. Conversely, Yabem (NNG), Kiriwina (PT) and Mota (NCV) all use a verb translated as ‘quiver’ to express an emotion, but in Yabem the emotion is nervousness, anxiety (ŋalɪlʊm ŋagogo ‘my inside quivers’), in Kiriwina the emotion is astonishment, (i-kubukubu nano-gu [it-quiver mind-my] ‘my mind quivers’), and in Mota the emotion is shame, shyness (ape-maragai ‘my heart quivers’).
Although a mere two POc reconstructions are identified in the following chapters—*lalo- rua-rua ‘be of two minds, undecided, have doubt’ (§10.8) and *qate- (p,pʷ)atu ‘brave’ (§11.3.2.1)— there is ample evidence across subgroups of particular feelings or thoughts being expressed by BPMs that share the same underlying metaphor. Expression of such concepts in this way is a well-established feature of Austronesian languages, apparently as far back as Proto Austronesian, as BPMs encoding emotions are found in Tsou (Huang 2000b), which scholars agree is either part of a three-language first-order Austronesian subgroup or a first-order subgroup in its own right. Blust (ACD) has partially reconstructed several PMP terms *X qatay, where the BPMs are consistently translatable as ‘afraid’ (literally ‘small liver’), ‘brave, courageous, proud, arrogant’ (‘big liver’), ‘angry, furious’ (‘burning liver’), ‘full of malice’ (‘rotten liver’), ‘resentful, offended’ (‘sick, hurt liver’) and ‘pure-hearted’ (‘white liver’). The modifying terms are not all cognate, but they share the same meaning. Klamer (2001) suggests that eti ‘liver’ (from PMP *qatay) was the Kambera (CMP) term for ‘seat of emotions’, whilst the corresponding term in Buru (CMP) was lale- ‘inside’, cognate with POc *lalom. It is thus reasonably certain that BPMs with both *qate- and *lalom were inherited into POc from an earlier Austronesian interstage.
Our inability to reconstruct more BPMs than are presented here can be attributed to several factors.
Expanding on the third point, qualifying words are capable of varying interpretations, as illustrated in §9.5 above. A Tokelauan speaker’s expression loto vāivai may be translated in one place by ‘weary’, in another by ‘discouraged, unhappy’. In other words, there is no precisely defined relationship that holds between a metaphor and its physical attribute. English translations may seize on one aspect of a word’s meaning, but ignore other equally valid interpretations. The only instances where a one-to-one relationship may hold across languages is where a numerical modifier is used, as in the cognitive concepts ‘to doubt’ and ‘to agree’. Here ‘to doubt’ is expressed literally as ‘to be of two minds’, and ‘to agree’ is ‘to be of one mind’ (§§10.8–9). Terms collected across the Oceanic-speaking world for these two expressions show remarkable uniformity of gloss: the English translation is semantically an exact fit.
Compound expressions for emotions, temperamental qualities and some cognitive states have only been recorded in a small number of the available dictionaries, and those listed are undoubtedly only a fraction of those in use. But dictionary translations are rarely adequate for the purposes of this chapter and chapters 10 and 11. Oceanic speakers may lexify the emotional spectrum in ways that differ significantly from an English speaker. For instance, a Kiribati term is nano-mano, defined by Sabatier (1971) as ‘discreet, deep, sly, sullen’ (nano ‘inside, disposition etc.’, mano ‘impervious, water-tight’). To an English speaker these character traits are quite distinct in meaning, and although some shared element of meaning can be identified, there is no English term that encompasses them all. Consequently, it must be recognised that any comparison of dictionary terms with similar English glosses is a poor substitute for comprehensive discussion of such terms on a language-by-language basis.
White (1985:329) argues that “with a topic as complex, affectively charged, and socially significant as this (the linguistic expressions for personal characteristics or emotions), analysis of language quickly moves from the study of referential semantics to questions of inference and pragmatics”.
And such matters are beyond dictionary definitions.