The linguistic metaphors of deafness in Egyptian literary, biographical and medical texts

Abstract

This article examines and explores the attested occurrences of the linguistic metaphors of deafness in the Egyptian literary, biographical and medical texts, with a special examination of their significances and con notations. It examines how the Egyptian culture expresses its values through various metaphors of deafness. The article also considers the virtues and vices of deafness in literary and biographical contexts. It examines the cognitive approaches to different lexical semantics of the Egyptian words for deafness. Comparative liter ary, biographical and medical sources, inscriptions in private tombs, statues, papyri and stelae are examined. The article also examines deafness to Maat and its consequences. The Egyptian lexemes and expressions designating deafness will be examined in lexicographical, phraseological and thematic textual analyses.

Keywords

• linguistic metaphors
• deafness
• deafness to maat
• virtues
• vices