Chapter 7 Living Dying and Time Metaphors

Chapter 7 Living, Dying and Time Metaphors • One reason there are so many Latin and Greek words for birth, life, and death is that the Christian missionaries from Rome carried these root words to the New World. • When metaphors become firmly established, speakers use them as the basis for new metaphors. These are what we call “secondgeneration metaphors. ” (Nilsen & Nilsen 159) 24 1

Vocabulary Plus: A Source-Based Approach www. ablongman. com/nilsen By Don L. F. Nilsen And Alleen Pace Nilsen 24 2

Mythological Contributions to Days of the Week: Monday (moon) Tuesday (Norse: Tyr [god of single combat) Wednesday (Norse Woden, chief god) Thursday (Norse Thor) Friday (Norse Fria) Saturday (Greek Titan: Saturn) Sunday (sun) 24 3

Mythological Contributions to Days of the Month: January (Greek: Janus, god of doors) July (Latin: Julius Caesar) August (Latin: Caesar Augustus) February (Latin: Februum, god of purification) September (Latin: sept-, seven) March (Greek: Mars, god of war) October (Latin: oct-, eight) April (Latin: Aprilis: opening of Spring) November (Latin: nov-, nine) May (Latin: Maia, goddess of fertility) June (Greek: Juno, chief female god) December (Latin: dec-, ten) 24 4

Mythological Contributions to Signs of the Zodiac: Aries (Ram) Libra (Balance, Scales) Taurus (Bull) Scorpio (Scorpion) Gemini (Twins [Caster & Polux]) Sagittarius (Archer, Centaur) Cancer (Crab) Capricorn (Horn of Goat) Leo (Lion) Aquarius (Water) Virgo (Virgin) Pisces (Fish) 24 5

Symbolic Analogies: Day: Seasons: Play: Lifetime: Daybreak Spring First Act Infancy Second Act Childhood Third Act Youth Fourth Act Maturity Fifth Act Old Age Closing Curtain Death Dawn Summer Mid Day Twilight Autumn Sunset Winter Night/Darkness 24 6

George Lakoff’s “Idealized Cognitive Models” Human (not natural) Time Units WORK UNITS HOLIDAYS: SPORTS SEASONS: Second Minute Hour AM & PM Week Work Weak Spring Break Leap Year New Year’s Day Easter Christmas President’s Day Martin Luther King Day Halloween Labor Day Memorial Day Basketball Season Baseball Season Football Season (Tennis Season) NATURAL SEASONS AND DIVISIONS: Vernal (Equinox) Summer (Solstice) Autumnal (Equinox) Winter (Solstice) 24 7

Anachronism 24 8

Birth Metaphors Gk: Gen- | L: nascent | OE: beran Congenital Engender Engine Eugenics Geneology Generative grammar Genius Generation Generator Generic Genesis Genetics Heterogeneous Homogeneous Nation Native Nativity Scene Natural Nature Neonatal Unit Puny Renaissance Bear arms Bear a heavy burden Bear a child Birth Forebears Give birth to an idea Wee bairns Wheelbarrow (Nilsen & Nilsen 162 -163) 24 9

Christopher Columbus’s World 24 10

Princess 24 11

The Passage of Time Salvadore Dali 24 12

Same Princess after Time 24 13

Life Metaphors OE: Quick | Gk: Bio | L: Vivere Cut to the quick The Quick and the Dead Quick movement (in sports) Quicksand Quicksilver (Mercury) Biography Biological warfare (Anthrax etc. ) Biology Bionic Woman Biomass (tumor or cancer) Biophysics Biopsy Biorhythms Biosatellite 24 Bon Vivant Viable Viva Zapata (movie) Vivacious Vivid Vivisection (Nilsen & Nilsen 165 -166) 14

Spring Giuseppe Arcimboldo 24 15

Supernatural Metaphors L: spiritus | OE: gast | OE: spook | OE: bone | OE: skeleton Aspirated sounds Aspiration Esprit de Corps Expiration x 2 Inspiration Spire Spirits (liquor) Spiritual Sprite Aghast Ghastly Ghost town Ghost writer Ghostly Holy Ghost TV ghost Zeitgeist Horse getting spooked Spooky movie or book 24 Bone china Bone to pick with someone Bonehead Boner Boneyard Bonfire Boning up for an exam Skin and bones Wishbone Family skeleton Skeletal remains (corps) Skeleton key Skeleton outline (Nilsen & Nilsen 173 -174) 16

Summer Giuseppe Arcimboldo 24 17

Birth and Death Movie Titles Birth of a Nation Born Free Born on the Fourth of July Born to be Bad Dead Man Walking The Dead End Kids Dead Poets Society The Dead Zone The Death Kiss Death Takes a Holiday (Nilsen & Nilsen 177) 24 18

Autumn Giuseppe Arcimboldo 24 19

Words Related to Death Aimee Thanatogenous (Evelyn Waugh) Die Hard Batteries Execution Extermination Fatal injection Killing time Lethal injection Lethargic ( Lethe) 24 Murdering the English language Noise dying down Slaughterhouse V (Kurt Vonnegut) Terminal illness Thanatopsis (Emerson) (Nilsen & Nilsen 168 -169) 20

L: mortalis Amortize a loan Infant mortality Le Mort D’Artur by Thomas Malory Mordar (in Lord of the Rings) Morgue Mortal combat Mortal sins 24 Mortally wounded Mortgage Mortified Mortuary Murder Post mortem Rigor Mortis (Nilsen & Nilsen 167) 21

Euphemisms for Death 1930 -2008 Deceased Died Expired In loving memory Left 25 family members Passed away Passed on Returned home Returned to his Lord Rest in Peace (RIP) Went home Went to be with his Lord Went to Heaven (Nilsen & Nilsen 160) 24 22

Flippantisms for Death Bit the Kicked the dust bucket Bought the farm Boot Hill In Tombston e, Arizona Pushing up daisies Six feet under 24 23

!Winter Giuseppe Arcimboldo 24 24

!!!Gothic Symbols Bats Black cats Caves Cemetaries Coffins Corpses Crypt Keeper Dark and stormy nights Ghosts Ghouls Goosebumps Gothic Cathedrals Haunted Houses Monsters Skeletons Tombstones (Nilsen & Nilsen 177) 24 25

!!!Gothic Movies / Gothic Novels, etc. Addams Family Batman Beetlejuice The House of Usher Little House of Horrors Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Witches of Eastwick Batman Dracula Frankensetein (cf. Mel Brooks’ parody) Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wuthering Heights ----------------------Bulwer Litton Fiction Contest: “It was a dark and stormy night. ” Snoopy writing the great American novel Don & Alleen Nilsen in Bulgaria 24 26

Reference Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Vocabulary Plus High School and Up: A Source Based Approach. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyln & Bacon, 2004. www. ablongman. com/nilsen 24 27