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ON METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE IN TWO ANCIENT

EGYPTIAN LOVE POEMS
A. BASSON
ABSTRACT

Since romantic love is a complex emotion; we often find it difficult to

come up with a clear definition of the concept of love. We are enchanted
by love and invent ways to express this elusive and crucial aspect of
human existence. Even in the so-called pre-modern cultures, people
grapple with this intense human emotion. Given the prevalence of love
across cultures, this investigation purports to illustrate that the articulation
of love in two ancient Egyptian love poems is constituted by metaphor.
These love poets utilised conceptual metaphors to express the abstract
notion of love. By examining the linguistic evidence associated with love,
the exploration attempts to identify a few conceptual metaphors attested
in two Egyptian love poems. It is argued that for our ancient Near Eastern
counterparts, metaphorical language indeed became the necessary vehicle
to conceptualise and express such a multifaceted emotion.

INTRODUCTION
It is often said that it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all.
However mundane such a saying might appear, it encapsulates the conviction
that human beings search for love and find ways to express it.1 Compare the
remark of Sternberg and Grajek (1984:312): "Love can be among the most
intense of human emotions, and is certainly the most sought after". According
to Rubin (1970:265), "Love is generally regarded to be the deepest and most
meaningful of sentiments ... it has occupied a preeminent position in the art and
literature of every age, and is presumably experienced, at least, occasionally, by

The reference here is to romantic love between a man and a woman. It is not my
intention to provide a treatise on all the different aspects of love as investigated in the
various disciplines.

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A. Basson

the vast majority of people".2 The fact that certain languages might lack a word
for a particular emotion, does not negate the possibility that it might be
expressed metaphorically, or even non-verbally (cf. Russell 1991:434; Toro
Rueda 2003:88). Any study on emotions should therefore aim at determining
"we1che

Konzeptualisierungen

den

Beschreibungen

von

Emotionen

zugrundeliegen, wie sie mit allgemeinen Konzeptualisierungsgewohnheiten

zusarnmenhangen

und

welche

Mischungen

bzw.

Uberlagerungen

von

Bildbereichen moglich sind" (Fiehler 1990:124).

Even though psychologists, anthropologists, and linguists differ on the
universality of emotions, one could take for granted the fact that love indeed
appears across cultures. Guarding against what Junker and Blacksmith
(2006:275) call extreme cultural relativism and ethnocentric naivety,3 the
current investigation presupposes the feasibility of a cross-linguistic analysis of
the emotion of love. This exploration aims to examine the role of metaphor as a
conceptual tool employed by the ancient Egyptian poets to express the notion of
romantic love attested in two Egyptian love poems. This concurs with the
assertion of Kovecses (1988:12) that "implicit in many linguistic expressions is
a conceptual model that we can make explicit if we examine the way in which
the expressions are related to each other and which aspects of love they capture".
This is echoed by Fiehler (1990:40): "Das wichtigste Mittel, urn die zentralen
Bestandteile des alltagsweltlichen Konzepts von Geftihl herauszuarbeiten, ist
die Analyse der alltagweltlichen Redeweisen (emphasis in orginal) tiber Geftihle,
so wie sie sich in Sprichtwortem, idiomatischen Wendungen, bildlichen
Sprechweisen tiber Gefiihle etc. zeigen". Junker and Blacksmith (2006:276)

"Poets, philosophers, writers, psychologists, and practically everyone else have

tried to understand love almost as far back as we can search" (Sternberg and Grajek

1984:312).

Noteworthy is the remark of Fox (1983:219): "While we are able to communicate

about love across different cultures and eras, there is no doubt that different cultures,
and for that matter different individuals, have diverse perceptions and ideas of love ... "
3

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On metaphorical language in two ancient Egyptian love poems

371

likewise draw attention to the fact that language is central in the labeling and
conceptualisation of emotions.
Suffice it to note that for the purpose of this paper, by metaphor is meant
conceptual metaphor in terms of which conceptual worlds underlying the
various linguistic expressions are explored. According to Lakoff and Johnson
(1980: 115) "metaphor pervades our conceptual system ... because many of the
concepts that are important to us are neither abstract or not clearly delineated in
our experience (emotions, ideas, time etc.) we need to grasp on them by means
of other concepts that we understand in clearer terms (spatial orientation,
objects, etc) ... This need leads to metaphorical definition in our conceptual
system". Metaphor has as its primary function the cognitive role of
understanding abstract and complex concepts like love, life, mind, ideas etc. in
terms of more clearly delineated concepts like journeys, garnes, fire, buildings
etc. In light of the aforementioned theoretical assumptions, this contribution
offers a general overview of the ancient Egyptian notion of love as expressed in
two love poems viz., the Papyrus Harris 500 and Papyrus Chester Beatty I.
Furthermore, the conceptual metaphors that can be identified from the linguistic
utterances in the Egyptian love lyrics are highlighted. It is argued that
metaphorical language is among the dominant imagery employed to present the
view of love in Egyptian poetry. Through metaphor, the emotion of love finds
literary expression in the various love poems. Assuming the ubiquity of
metaphor across languages and the fact that Egyptian literature of every sort
abounds in puns and suggestive imagery, the employment of metaphor in love
poetry should corne as no surprise (cf. Davis 1980:111).

EGYPTIAN LOVE POETRY

Suffice it to note that most of the love songs date from the Ramesside period of

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A. Basson

the New Kingdom (cf. Fox 1985:181, 183; Westenholz 1995:2480; Bains
1996:166; Foster 2001:316). The lyric poetry of this period reflects an
emotional attachment, love, and erotic symbolism (Meskell 2002:126). New
Kingdom Egypt presents us with a "substantial corpus of existential writing
about humanity and the cosmos, complex mythico-religious systems, a highly
articulated sense of embodiment and personhood, evocations of romantic love
(emphasis added), eroticism, and sexuality, elaborate social relations, and so
on" (Meskell 2002:2). Compare also the remark of Gugleilmi (1996:335) in this
regard: "In der Ramessidenzeit wird erstmal eine von der IntensiUit des
verdichten Gefiihls, ErlebnissUirke und die Tiefe der Empfindung gepragte
Lyrik in groBerem Umfang greitbar".
A survey of the Egyptian love lyrics reveals that references to love in
ancient Egyptian literature are couched in metaphorical language. The
pervasiveness of metaphors in the articulation of certain emotions might
account for the use of this trope in the love poetry to express love. According to
Fox (1983:224), the Egyptian love poets develop forms and imagery through
which they articulate the vision of love as an individual feeling of pleasure and
harmony.4 Especially the use of metaphorical language adds to the richness of
ancient Egypt lyric poetry. Through the application of various metaphors the
poets "seek to capture and convey nuances of ordinary human emotion and
desire" (Fox 1985:296). Furthermore, metaphorical language captures and
encapsulates the powerful and peculiar feelings that constitute love (cf. Fox
1983:224). The metaphors employed in the Egyptian love songs convey not
only the power of love, but also the varieties and the textures of emotions that
love may engender (Fox 1985:325). The individual love songs express the
whole range of feelings of romantic love. As Foster (2001 :316) observes, "They
4 For them love thus is a "way of feeling, well represented by images of harmony and
pleasantness ... inspired by a lover but remaining in the confines of the individual soul"
(Fox 1983:228).

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On metaphorical languagE:} in two ancient Egyptian love poems

373

are idyllic, tender, humorous, even satirical, sometimes naive, almost always
graceful; and the speakers range from self-sacrificing in the service of love,
pure of heart, hesitant, or intensely passionate, openly physical in their desire
even at times given to lust, sexual innuendo, and bawdy". It is an evocative
genre demonstrating that ideal love between partners was supposed to be
passionate, emotional and sexual (Meskell 2002: 128). Egyptian love songs
abound with pleasure, blending desire, love, and eroticism within the specifics
of an Egyptian semiotic system (Meske1l2002: 132).
Suffice it to note that, in contrast to the biblical Hebrew Songs of Songs,
most of these songs are monologues. As Westenholz (1995:2480) writes, "The
Egyptian love songs are exceptional in that they are mainly introspective songs,
describing emotions". These poems afford the reader insight into "the inner
thoughts and intentions of the lovers and the deepest and most intimate level"
(Meskell 2002:128; cf. also Toro Rueda 2003:8). The fact that some of the
Egyptian love songs are interior monologues makes the external audience
"privy to the speakers' deepest thoughts and feelings, showing what the
personae are really like behind the mask of public behaviour that people put on
when speaking to others" (Fox 1985:259). In exterior monologues, the
addressee is another person, which is understood as present and listening. These
monologues create an implicit listener, a silent partner in conversation whose
personality and attitudes can sometimes be read out of the words of the speaker
(Fox 1985:263, 264). The Egyptian poets preferred the monologue form
because they were primarily interested in accentuating the experience of
individuals in love (Fox 1985:316; cf. also Gugleilmi 1996:343). Commenting
on the difference between love songs and other modes of lyric expression in
ancient Egypt, Foster (2001 :316) writes, "Whereas the hymns and prayers, the
praises, encomiums, and battle songs ... all celebrate either divinities or the
divine king ... , the love songs celebrate love between men and women
(sometimes, boys and girls) - human love rather than divine love". One can thus

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A. Basson

concur with Foster (1995:162) that ''These songs are a precious inheritance
from the lyric poetry of ancient Egypt since they give the modern reader
glimpses of the intimate feelings and attitudes of young lives full of passion and
longing, intrigue and duplicity, love and sadness". They have indeed been
recognized as a fine achievement of Egyptian literature (Griffiths 1990:349).

CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS FOR LOVE

This section highlights a few conceptual metaphors and their linguistic
entailments attested in the various Egyptian love lyrics. Based on the available
evidence, the following examples of how love is conceptualised in the Papyrus
Harris 500 and Papyrus Chester Beatty I can be identified: 5
LOVE IS AN INTOXICANT

Your love has penetrated all within me, like honey plunged into
water, like an odour, which penetrates spices ....1
I am excited by your love alone.
More potent than any medicine is my sister for me; she is more
powerful for me than the Compendium.
And when her lips are pressed to mine I am made drunk and need
not wine ... when we kiss, and her warm lips half open, I fly cloudhigh without beer! What paradise gained, what fulfillment, what a
heavenly turn of affairs!
LOVE IS UNITY!!

For a delineation of the various conceptual metaphors, this contribution draws on

the work of Kovecses (1988).
6
In most poems love is portrayed as an intoxicant, something the Egyptians
endeavored to show in wan paintings through the representation of incense and perfume
(Meskell 2002: 130-132).
1
Unless otherwise stated, the translations are from Fox (2003).
5

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On metaphorical language in two ancient Egyptian love poems

375

My heart is filled with joy divine for I am hers and she is mine.
I am your favourite girl ... I am yours like the field planted with

flowers and with all sorts of fragrant plans.

LOVE IS APPETIZING FOOD

I am like a wild goose attracted by the taste of love.

THE OBJECT OF LOVE IS A DEITy9

I've drawn near you to see your love,

prince of my heart!.

One alone is my sister, having no peer: more gracious than all other
women.
Love of him captures my heart; a precious youth without peer!

10

THE LOVED ONE IS AN OBJECT THAT CAN BE GIVEN

The scent of your nose alone is what revives my heart. I have

obtained forever and ever what Amun has granted me.
LOVE IS A MAGICAL POTION

I see her - then I become healthy ... she speaks - then I become
strong ... I hug her - and she drives my illness from me.
lt is thy love, which gives me strength, Are you not my health and

my life?
LOVE IS A LOST OBJECT

Lost! Lost! Lost! 0 lost my love to me! God! God! God! 0 Amun,
great of might! I offer to thee all that can delight, Hear thou my cry
and bring my love again.
Related to the unity metaphor is the metaphorically understood notion of physical
closeness that expresses the desire oflovers to be physically close to each other.
9
According to Kovecses (1986:72) the special significance of the deity metaphor lies
in the fact that it highlights several emotional concepts associated with love in particular
the concepts of admiration, devotion and enthusiasm.
10
The first part of this expression could also be interpreted as an instance of the
LOVE/LOVER IS AN ANIMAL metaphor.

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A. Basson

LOVEILOVER IS AN ANIMAL

I am a wild goose, a hunted one ... at a bait under a trap that is to

catch me.
My heart is not done with you with your love, my wolf cub!
I set no trap today - your love captured me. 11
Mother is right to command me thus: "Avoid seeing him!" Yet my
heart is vexed when he comes to mind, for love of him has
captured me.

CONCLUSION
This investigation highlighted a few conceptual metaphors and their linguistic
instantiations in two ancient Egyptian love poems. From the aforementioned
analysis it transpired that even in the so-called pre-modem cultures, metaphors
seemed to play an important role in the way our ancient near eastern
counterparts conceptualised an abstract notion such as love. Furthermore, these
examples have shown how in a particular culture the emotional world can be
created on the analogy of the physical world. The teeming life portrayed in the
love poems is the verbal equivalent of the lush, nature-filled, and banquet-filled
scenes of daily life that were painted or carved in the tombs of the nobles at
Thebes (Foster 2001:316). Language indeed is a "repository of human
experience, whether physical or conceptual" (Kovecses 1988:88).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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11

According to Fox (2003:126) many Egyptian love poems play on the love-trap.

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On metaphorical language in two ancient Egyptian love poems

377

Fiehler, R 1990. Kommunikation und Emotion: Theoretische und empirische

Untersuchungen zur Rolle von Emotionen in der verbalen InterakJion. Berlin:
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Foster, J L 2001. Lyric, in Redford 2001:312-317.
Fox, M V 1983. Love, passion, and perception in Israelite and Egyptian love poetry,
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_ _ _ 1985. The Songs of Songs and the ancient Egyptian love songs. Madison:
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Sternberg, R I & Grajek, S 1984. The nature of love, JPSP 47/2:312-329.
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Dr. Alec Basson

Department of Ancient Studies
University of Stellenbosch
Private Bag Xl
7602 Matieland
Suid-Mrika I South Mrica
e-mail: bassonicus@yahoo.com