Although I am not a native speaker, I have studied Classical Quranic Arabic most of my life. The language has a very pictorial quality, and when properly chanted, it stirs me mainly because I can visualize what I hear. I will begin by giving an example. 'Shams' is the Arabic name for the sun. The word Shams consists of three Arabic letters Sheen (Sh), Meem (M), and Seen (S). The sound of the letter (Sh) evokes nervous energy: a tree rustling in the wind, something frying on the stove, steam shooting out of a radiator, a shower of water or rain. The sound (M) or 'mmmmmm' indicates something being enclosed, like an engine under the hood of a car, or like the words 'room' and 'womb'. Lastly there's (S) evoking the image of air seeping out of a punctured tire, or a marble rolling on a glass table, a 'smooth going out'. Place these sounds together and you have: 'restless energy enclosed in an area, smoothly going out', which aptly defines the sun or anything else with such a quality. Every word and phrase in the Quran is capable of this analysis. Native speakers of Arabic who are intimate with classical Quranic Arabic with Synesthetic ability can understand Quranic Sound Symbolism. I have compiled a list of letter sound meanings for my continuing research.

I am studying both Arabic (Modern Standard) and Hebrew (modern Israeli) currently, and am finding the associations the letters and sounds evoke fascinating... im a bit tired now but would be happy to discuss this later... i just had to reply cos i really love both languages so far... they look/taste good... and they also sound nice...

Ever heard of Khlebnikov? I was part of a cabaret event in which one of the presenters gave a lecture on this Russian mathematician who spent his life "defining" the "universal alphabet." For him, the sounds (of the Russian alphabet, though he defined it as being for all languages) created spatial movements, which he described somewhat mathematically.

Such as "m" means the disintegration of a certain quantity, into infinitely small parts (within certain limits) equal as a whole to the original entity.

"l" is the diffusion of the smallest possible waves on the widest possible surface, perpendicular to a moving point, the height vanishing with the increase in width. For a given volume, the height becomes infinitely small as the other two axes become infinitely large. In short, the formation of a two-dimensional body out of a three dimensional one.

It's pretty clear to me that we can add him to our list of historical figures with synesthesia, along with Nabakov. Other historical figures may be in question, but I doubt no one would have gone to the lengths Khlebnikov did (basically exiling himself with his dedication to this alphabet), if they were not basing it off of a synesthetic experience, which feels awfully darn "real."