Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian

Common Persian expressions containing cheshm ‘eye’ convey conceptualizations of emotions, including love, envy, and greed, as well as denote character traits such as naiveté and willfulness. This body part is also associated with a Persian cultural schema that equates ‘eye do’ or ‘eye hit’, with ‘casting a charm or spell’ on someone, believed to invite bad luck in the form of sickness or loss. Overall, Persian ‘eye’ expressions do not reflect the metaphor understanding is seeing as a dominant conceptualization in the everyday use of speakers. The findings of this study provide further support for the claim that there is close interaction among language, body, and culture. In other words, it confirms the position that figurative meanings based on the body do not draw their power from an assumption that there is but one natural way in which we interact physically with our environment.