I'd like to know what word (and especially what metaphor) you use for "striking" or "conspicuous"...
Dutch has
- opvallend (falling up), which could be explained, I suppose, as
- in het oog springend (jumping/ leaping in the eye, lit.)
- frappant, borrowed from French of course, and lit. meaning "striking" hitting us, our eye, ... ?
Striking seems like an underlying metaphor, and touching/hitting the eye, but maybe the two refer to the same base: striking/ touching the eye (metonymy for us?).
I'll deal with light adjectives such as "schitterend" (brilliant, but lit. maybe something like "glittery") in a separate thread. Both "touch" (or hit?) the eye though... So I think there is a relation...Or I'll take it to the Language Lab...
Dutch has
- opvallend (falling up), which could be explained, I suppose, as
- in het oog springend (jumping/ leaping in the eye, lit.)
- frappant, borrowed from French of course, and lit. meaning "striking" hitting us, our eye, ... ?
Striking seems like an underlying metaphor, and touching/hitting the eye, but maybe the two refer to the same base: striking/ touching the eye (metonymy for us?).
I'll deal with light adjectives such as "schitterend" (brilliant, but lit. maybe something like "glittery") in a separate thread. Both "touch" (or hit?) the eye though... So I think there is a relation...Or I'll take it to the Language Lab...