Easy. declare -A outer=( [inner]="_inner" ) declare -A _inner=( [key]="value" ) Access inner elements via a nameref. declare -n inner="${ou

Easy. declare -A outer=( [inner]="_inner" ) declare -A _inner=( [key]="value" ) Access inner elements via a nameref. declare -n inner="${outer[inner]}" echo "${inner[key]}" # value Currently writing a compiler in Bash built largely on this premise.