Although colors are often thought to be evocative of feelings, Australian languages have very few expressions associating the color of a body part with an emotional state. Color metaphors are found almost exclusively with the liver and the eyes and appear to occur mostly in Central and Southern Australia. They map predominantly onto negative emotions. For instance, in Alyawarr (Central Australia), a green belly (alem atherrk-atherrk ‘belly green-green’) represents jealousy. The liver can also be depicted as red, for longing and/or desire. The eyes are sometimes described as white, green, or blue-green, as in Arrernte (Central Australia), where alknge atherrke ‘green or blue eyes’ can mean ‘be very scared’, as well as ‘silly’, and ‘blind’ – perhaps an evocation of the eyes of elderly people.

References

Green, Jennifer, David Blackman and David Moore. Alyawarr to English dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD Press, 2019.

Henderson, John and Veronica Dobson. Eastern and Central Arrernte to English dictionary. Alice Springs: IAD Press, 1994.