Connotations of five basic colours in the structure of Persian metaphorical expressions

Introduction Colour has its own language and plays a vital role in the world in which we live. Besides their denotative meanings, colour terms could be used with different connotative meanings in the structure of metaphorical expressions under the influence of cultural and social factors. In the same vein, colour-based metaphors such as 'gâve pišâni sefid (white forehead cow; used for a person who is well known by others), 'muhâjæš râ dær âsijâb sefid nækærde' (He has not whitened his hair in a mill; used for a person who is old and experienced), and ' dʒâje šomâ sæbz bud' (Your place was green; used when someone was absent in a joyful party) have their own functions as a sub-class of metaphors. The main feature that characterizes in these expressions is that colour terms are used metaphorically. Broadly speaking, the connotative values of colours emerged from metaphoric expressions that are constructed around folk beliefs about colour meanings, and it is necessary to examine social and cultural backgrounds in order to understand the motivation for Persian metaphoric expressions involving colours. Despite several researches on metaphorical relations in different languages including Persian (Hashemian & Talenbinezhad, 2006; Parvaresh, 2008; Vahid & Sadeghi, 2010) it seems that studies which have addressed colour word connotations and their relationships to metaphoric expressions of colours have been left aside. Connotations of Five Basic Colors in Persian As long as language is used and interpreted in accordance with the social and cultural contexts, changes in socio-cultural structure make languages undergo certain changes. In the same vein, the connotation of colors in every language can magnify cultural paradoxes and reveals the cultural orientations towards each colour term. In this vein, the following section is a brief discussion about five basic colour terms in Persian including sefid (white), sijâh (black), sorx/qermez (red), sæbz (green), and zærd (yellow). Sefid (white) White is the reflection of light and connotes positive values associated with daylight including hope (e.g. pâjâne šæbe sijæh sepid æst; means the end of the dark night is white; used when there is hope in hopeless situations) and goodness (e.g. del sefid; means white hearted) in Persian. In the same vein, in Persian mythology colour white is the symbol of superiority (e.g. riš sefid or gis sefid, means white bread or white hair; used for an old man or lady who are experienced and knowledgeable), spirituality and virtue. In addition, knowledge and wisdom of elderly people is referred to the colour ‘white’, because old people are experienced in different field of life due to their age. Metaphorically, muhâšo tu æsijâb sefid nækærdeh (his hair has not turned white in a mile; used for an old and experienced person) connotes wisdom and experience. However, sometimes even the same word in two different expressions could have different connotations (Phillip, 2006) likewise, white is associated with a range of negative connotations such as shock, fear (mesle gæč sefid šod, i.e., he turns as white as plaster) and impudence (češm sefid; i.e., whiteeyed) in Persian too. sijâh (black) Black is the colour of sin, devil, pain and misfortune. In ancient Persian it is the symbol of Ahrimæn (evil). For instance the connection between wearing black clothes and mourning refers to Ahrimæn (evil) in ancient Persian (Hassanli, 2007). Arguably, there are more than sixty metaphoric expressions for colour black in Shaahnameh1, most of which connote black negatively (Hassanli, 2007). Connotations of five basic colours in the structure of Persian metaphorical expressions Banafsheh Ghafel 1,* , Abdolreza Pazhakh 2 and Akbar Mirzaie 1