Embodiment in Latin Semantics introduces theories of embodied meaning developed in the cognitive sciences to the study of Latin semantics. Bringing together contributions from an international group of scholars, the volume demonstrates the pervasive role that embodied cognitive structures and processes play in conventional Latin expression across levels of lexical, syntactic, and textual meaning construction. It shows not only the extent to which universal aspects of human embodiment are reflected in Latin’s semantics, but also the ways in which Latin speakers capitalize on embodied understanding to express imaginative and culture-specific forms of meaning. In this way, the volume makes good on the potential of the embodiment hypothesis to enrich our understanding of meaning making in the Latin language, from the level of word sense to that of literary thematics. It should interest anyone concerned with how people, including in historical societies, create meaning through language.

Mark Turner, Case Western University:
English, in some ways an unusual language, is the most over-studied language in the history of the world. But English itself was highly influenced by Romance languages, and Romance languages account for a vast swath of the world’s most influential literature. Research into the cognitively modern human mind and its communicative possibilities cannot do better than focusing on Latin. This volume is the first major book-length effort in that direction. This volume is equally indispensable for students of Latin, Romance philologists and cognitive linguistics.