Dolor Metaphors in Latin: What a Corpus-Based Approach to Ancient Sources Can (and Cannot) Tell Us
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Chiara Fedriani
Abstract
This study offers a quantitative and qualitative analysis of dolor metaphors in Latin, relying on two different approaches and benefiting from the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of both. The first is a corpus-based analysis of keywords and focuses on their attestation in a large sample of texts. A study that is keyword-based allows the researcher to retrieve all attestations of the most prominent lexeme in a given data set and to provide a systematic account of word usage in context. Emotion concepts, however, have a multifaceted linguistic structure that is also instantiated in figurative patterns and narrative representations. Words, then, constitute just one aspect of the conceptualization of the emotions. The second approach is a literary-informed analysis of emotional narratives and requires the careful reading of selected texts. In this latter methodology, the aim is to explore the symbolic imagery embedded in the narration of an emotional episode, regardless of its linguistic packaging. The chapter shows that these two perspectives can and should be integrated in the analysis of metaphors in ancient languages and that in combination the two approaches (lexical and narratival) effectively contribute to unveiling the nature and understanding of dolor within the Roman symbolic system.
Abstract
This study offers a quantitative and qualitative analysis of dolor metaphors in Latin, relying on two different approaches and benefiting from the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of both. The first is a corpus-based analysis of keywords and focuses on their attestation in a large sample of texts. A study that is keyword-based allows the researcher to retrieve all attestations of the most prominent lexeme in a given data set and to provide a systematic account of word usage in context. Emotion concepts, however, have a multifaceted linguistic structure that is also instantiated in figurative patterns and narrative representations. Words, then, constitute just one aspect of the conceptualization of the emotions. The second approach is a literary-informed analysis of emotional narratives and requires the careful reading of selected texts. In this latter methodology, the aim is to explore the symbolic imagery embedded in the narration of an emotional episode, regardless of its linguistic packaging. The chapter shows that these two perspectives can and should be integrated in the analysis of metaphors in ancient languages and that in combination the two approaches (lexical and narratival) effectively contribute to unveiling the nature and understanding of dolor within the Roman symbolic system.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- A Very Brief Introduction to CMT and the Classics 1
- Through the Lens of Science: A Typology of Metaphors in Ancient Literature based on Scientific Modelling 15
- Homeric Gravity and Getting Lost in Orientational Metaphor 39
- The Construal of Heroic Anger in the Iliad 61
- Multimodality of Metaphor in Old Greek Comedy 93
- Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Greek Representations of Metempsychosis before Plato 117
- Metaphors for Death in Horace’s Odes 157
- Biting Animals and Human Bites: Embodied Metaphors and Experiences in Latin Elegy 185
- Dolor Metaphors in Latin: What a Corpus-Based Approach to Ancient Sources Can (and Cannot) Tell Us 215
- Peace of Mind is Space: An Application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Seneca’s Ideal of Tranquillitas 245
- Coda: The Case of “Bold Metaphors” and the Limits of CMT 269
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- A Very Brief Introduction to CMT and the Classics 1
- Through the Lens of Science: A Typology of Metaphors in Ancient Literature based on Scientific Modelling 15
- Homeric Gravity and Getting Lost in Orientational Metaphor 39
- The Construal of Heroic Anger in the Iliad 61
- Multimodality of Metaphor in Old Greek Comedy 93
- Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Greek Representations of Metempsychosis before Plato 117
- Metaphors for Death in Horace’s Odes 157
- Biting Animals and Human Bites: Embodied Metaphors and Experiences in Latin Elegy 185
- Dolor Metaphors in Latin: What a Corpus-Based Approach to Ancient Sources Can (and Cannot) Tell Us 215
- Peace of Mind is Space: An Application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Seneca’s Ideal of Tranquillitas 245
- Coda: The Case of “Bold Metaphors” and the Limits of CMT 269
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 291
