ЛЮДИНА ЯК СУБСТАНЦІЯ В ДАВНЬОАНГЛІЙСЬКИХ ОБРАЗНИХ ПОРІВНЯННЯХ

Abstract

The paper deals with the peculiarities of the semantics of Old English anthropocentric similes, whose tenor is a human being in one of the aspects of their existence modes. The material analysis is carried out according to the centric-morphic principle, which reflects the typology of tenor - vehicle configurations representing the central topic of the utterance as well as the centripetal image of its metamorphosis. The classification of the analyzed similes is based on the thematic reference of the tenor in accordance with the domain of the borrowed image including the list of the associations, verbalized in the similes. Attention is paid to the additional sense actualization, derived from the nature of the relationship between the constituents of the similes. The productivity of all singled-out simile types is determined serving as a basis for the characterization of the peculiarities of an Anglo-Saxon worldview fragment dealing with the understanding of human nature as a material and spiritual substance. The paper confirms that Anglo-Saxon anthropocentrism has a clear-cut ontological character distinguishing between the spiritual and the corporal with the dominance of a non-material part typical for the than idealism. The article shows the correlation between the vehicle types and the kind of substance, in whose mode the human being is described. It also highlights the ways used to shape the medieval Anglo-Saxon priorities in terms of ensuring the dominance of the spiritual over the corporal. It reveals the priority of anthropocentric characteristics of bodily and psychophysiological states of a man, which become simile tenors most frequently as well as the semantics of the latter under the condition of combination of the two opposing substances during the earthly life.