Searching for hidden ancient containers in the Old Croatian language: the body and emotions as containers
Searching for hidden ancient containers in the Old Croatian language: the body and emotions as containers

Summary/Abstract: The article uses cognitive metaphor theory to analyse the conception of both the body and of emotions as containers. Reflections of two differing conceptual metaphors projecting the container image schema (THE BODY IS A CONTAINER FOR EMOTIONS and EMOTION IS A CONTAINER) in both the Old Croatian language and the modern Croatian standard language are documented. Additionally, the ancient conception of emotion as a fluid (EMOTION IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER) is described, and it is shown how emotion can be both a substance in a container and a container substance in both medieval and modern Croatian texts. The final section of the article confirms the application of the container image schema to imaginary beings through descriptions of the devil’s body from medieval Croatian texts. This research made use of a digitally searchable online corpus of the Croatian language (containing 19th and 20th century texts), as well as an as–of–yet publicly inaccessible digital archive of Old Croatian texts (currently consisting of texts written in the 14th and 15th century). This article is a contribution to diachronic research of conceptual metaphor, as well as an attempt to apply cognitive metaphor theory to medieval studies research attempting to reveal the foundational conceptions of medieval man. It is concluded that Croatian written heritage contains traces of very old (universal) concepts, which have remained stable throughout the ages.

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