Chapter published in:
Sociocultural Dimensions of Lexis and Text in the History of EnglishEdited by Peter Petré, Hubert Cuyckens and Frauke D'hoedt
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 343] 2018
► pp. 61–76
Chapter 3“… all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air”
Metaphorical connections in the history of English
This article uses data from Mapping metaphor with the Historical thesaurus to describe conceptual connections between the supernatural and other areas of the lexicon across the history of English. By discussing the cases of angels and evil in some detail, we also argue that the data and worldview presented here about the spirit world challenge the conventional concrete/abstract division found in metaphor theory, and propose an alternative.
Keywords: metaphor, English, supernatural, Mapping metaphor, Historical thesaurus, angels, evil
Article outline
- 0.Christian Kay, 1940–2016
- 1.Mapping metaphorical connections
- 2.Examining metaphor through lexical overlap
- 3.1Q The supernatural
- 4.Angels real and imagined
- 5.Roots of evil
- 6.Conclusion
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Notes -
References
Published online: 04 July 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.343.03ale
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.343.03ale
References
Dictionaries and online resources
BNC = Davies, Mark 2004– British national corpus (BYU–BNC). Based on the British national corpus from Oxford University Press. http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
COCA = Davies, Mark 2008– The Corpus of contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990–present. http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
DOE = Cameron, Angus, Ashley Crandell Amos & Antonette diPaolo Healey (eds.) 2008 Dictionary of Old English, A–G. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. http://www.doe.utoronto.ca
HT = Kay, Christian, Jane Roberts, Michael Samuels, Irené Wotherspoon & Marc Alexander (eds.) 2015– Historical thesaurus of English, version 4.2 Glasgow: University of Glasgow. http://www.glasgow.ac.uk/thesaurus
MM = 2015– Metaphor map of English. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. http://www.glasgow.ac.uk/metaphor
MED = Kurath, Hans & Sherman M. Kuhn (eds.) 1956–2001 Middle English dictionary. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/
OED = Murray, Sir James A. H., Henry Bradley, Sir William A. Craigie & Charles T. Onions (eds.) 1884–1928 Oxford English dictionary; Supplement and bibliography 1933. Supplement, 1972–1986; Robert W. Burchfield (ed.). 2nd edn., 1989; John A. Simpson & Edmund S.C. Weiner (eds.). Additions series, 1993–1997; John A. Simpson, Edmund S.C. Weiner & Michael Proffitt (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3rd edn. (in progress). OED online, March 2000–, John A. Simpson (ed.) (2000–2013), Michael Proffitt (2013–). www.oed.com
Books and articles
Allan, Kathryn
Baker, Joseph
Brinton, Laurel J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Goodman, Nelson & Willard V. O. Quine
Kay, Christian
Kay, Christian & Kathryn Allan
Kay, Christian, Jane Roberts, Michael Samuels & Irené Wotherspoon
Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson
Mackay, Christopher S.
Smith, Jeremy J.
Steen, Gerard J., Aletta G. Dorst, J. Berenike Herrmann, Anna A. Kaal & Tina Krennmayr
Wild, Kate