The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone kwe in Song of Songs 4:9 to describe “being hooked (by love).” Kwe is generally used a sudden catch or jerk and often used for being “hooked” or startled. A possible translation into English of the Chichewa translation might “you have made my heart go snap! (i.e. you’ve captured it completely).” (Source: Ernst Wendland)

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)