Cultural Conceptualisations of Del ‘Heart/Stomach’ in Persian

This paper explores conceptualizations that are reflected in the use of Persian expressions that include the body-part term del ‘heart-stomach’, from the perspective of Cultural Linguistics. This body-part term provides a conceptual base for profiling a relatively large number of conceptualizations in Persian. By examining a number of expressions from Modern Persian the paper shows how del is conceptualized as being either equal to, or the container of, emotions, desires, patience, courage, compassion, and also thoughts and memories. A set of expressions in Persian also reflects conceptualizations of del as the centre of personality traits, character, and mood. Overall, it appears that the body part del provides a conceptual foundation for speakers of Persian to represent their cognitive, emotional, socio-cultural, and linguistic experiences. The observed conceptualizations of del are very likely to have originated in cultural models derived from Iranian Traditional Medicine and Persian spiritual belief systems such as the Sufi worldview, which has influenced Persian cultural cognition through Sufi literature. The linguistic expressions discussed in this paper provide a clear example of how language can serve as a ‘memory bank’ for cultural conceptualizations that have prevailed at different stages in the history of a speech community.