The semantics of the Amharic idioms and proverbs of hod ‘belly’

The aim of this paper is to provide meaningful analysis of the Amharic idioms and proverbs of hod ‘belly’. The idioms and proverbs of the Amharic word hod ‘belly’ is expressed focusing on emotions, behavior, and character. The data sources were monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and the Amharic Web Corpus. The semantics and pragmatics of various forms of belly expressions are, therefore, discussed with examples that indicate the value of understanding the sum of its parts instead of separate word translations for meaning.