Multidimensional Metaphors in Ancient Egyptian?
(2016) 11th Conference of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor. Metaphor in the Arts, in Media and Communication — Location: Berlin (1.July.2016)
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- Abstract
- Metaphors in Ancient Egyptian language and texts have of late enjoyed some attention (Landgráfová 2008, Nyord 2009, Hsu 2013, Di Biase-Dyson in press). Moreover, the metaphorical processes behind the use of classifiers in the Egyptian hieroglyphic script have been addressed in a series of earlier studies (such as Goldwasser 1995 and David 2000). This being said, there has been little attempt to date to combine the two studies: to see if there is a systematic connection between metaphors in the script and metaphors found in texts. In this paper, after establishing the fundamentals of metaphor in this ancient language (with reference to Kövecses 2005), we explore whether figurative language such as metaphor occurs at all levels of Egyptian texts – from the graphemic to the thematic level. We are interested particularly in the potential interaction between metaphorical language in texts and ‚metaphorical classifiers’, in a manner that could perhaps be considered ‚multimodal’ (Forceville & Urios-Aparisi 2009: 4) if classifiers are taken as bearing sufficient connection to metaphors in another mode like art (as argued in Goldwasser 1995). The metaphorical potential of classifiers is in itself not unproblematic. The idea that the classifiers used to explicate the semantic quality of verbs, nouns and adjectives could be used in a metaphorical fashion (such as verbs of quality classified with animals that may metaphorically represent that quality (e.g. qnd ‚to be angry’ with the baboon sign (E32): ) was first suggested by Goldwasser (1980, most recently 2005) and built upon by David (2000) and – although she rejects the term ‚classifier’ – McDonald (2000). However, it has been recently suggested that these classifiers may instead simply be representing a prototypical experiencer (Lincke 2011). Nevertheless, that classifiers can be based on metonyms has been well demonstrated (Lincke & Kammerzell 2012; Lincke & Kutscher 2012). Moreover, the idea that classifiers gain in metaphoricity from the Late Period on has been hypothesised by Chantrain (2014). We therefore use as a point of departure a manuscript from the Late Period, EA 10474, upon which the Teachings of Amenemope was written. This text abounds in lexeme- and text-level metaphors (shown most recently by Di Biase-Dyson, in press). We thus seek out cases in which the semantic value of the lexeme (or phrase) is metaphorical and conduct an analysis of the classifier(s), to see if they deviate from contemporary usage and/or represent something that is in some way abstract or metaphorical. This particular use is then considered in synchronic and where possible, diachronic, perspective. In this manner, we seek to address the following questions: • Can there be a synergy between metaphors at the classifier level, the lexeme level and the text or even thematic levels? In other words, can these metaphors actually ‚work together’? • Can metaphor be considered as a factor driving classifier change (considering also the many co-occurring phenomena like semantic change, script and spelling conventions and genre, amongst others)? • Are some classifiers more indicative of metaphorical usage than others? Some particularly interesting cases we wish to address include, for instance, the verbs wHo ‚to untie/finish a task/solve a problem’ and om ‚to swallow/to understand’. We hope that this contribution can help constitute a roadmap for further studies of metaphor in Egyptian and lend weight to hypotheses about changes in classification systems.
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Chantrain, G., & Di Biase-Dyson, C. (2016). Multidimensional Metaphors in Ancient Egyptian? 11th Conference of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor. Metaphor in the Arts, in Media and Communication, Berlin. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/177444