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Sociocultural Dimensions of Lexis and Text in the History of English
Edited 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
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 July 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.343.03ale
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COCA = Davies, Mark 2008– The Corpus of contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990–present. [URL]
DOE = Cameron, Angus, Ashley Crandell Amos & Antonette diPaolo Healey (eds.) 2008 Dictionary of Old English, A–G. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. [URL]
HT = Kay, Christian, Jane Roberts, Michael Samuels, Irené Wotherspoon & Marc Alexander (eds.) 2015– Historical thesaurus of English, version 4.2 Glasgow: University of Glasgow. [URL]
MM = 2015– Metaphor map of English. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. [URL]
MED = Kurath, Hans & Sherman M. Kuhn (eds.) 1956–2001 Middle English dictionary. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. [URL]
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–). [URL]

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