The text discusses various interpretations of lip and mouth shapes and their suggested correlations with personality traits. Wide mouths may indicate impertinence, while small mouths suggest modesty. It also covers how the tongue, as a master of speech and taste, functions and interacts with different food textures and temperatures.
Features and Functions of...
The way a lip protrudes is described in such a way here. The drooping of the lower lip is not always a bad sign: although in some idle speech it signifies heavy thoughts. This distinction is noticed: those with wide mouths, or large mouths, indicate an impertinent nature, whereas small mouths often predict modesty and praise-seeking behavior through knowledge. Those who are naturally timid or faint-hearted tend to have lips that appear swollen near the incisors. Those with a thick lower lip by the canine teeth are often ill-speakers and spreaders of malice. Because poisonous snakes show their lower jaws like this, people often compare them to these creatures, naming them the offspring of snakes and adders. Lips that are left hanging slack are often considered a sign of laziness. In obedient horses, donkeys, and working animals, a similar indicator is seen. It is commonly said that lips that distort the face rarely signify anything good.
Besides, the tongue is the master of speech, the primary tool for taste, for which it is made with countless small ducts or sensory nipples; which, when stimulated by food, cause the taste sensation through the nerves that create these small projections. Hence when these projections are coated or covered with some sweet, tasteless, greasy, or floury food, sauces, or something else, or if they are scorched and shriveled by hot food:
Translation Notes
1. "Onbefchaamhey" translates to "impertinent nature."
2. "Fe nijn-Zaayers" refers to "spreaders of malice."
3. "Tepeltjes" translates to "sensory nipples," which are used to refer to taste buds here.