Conceptual metonymies and metaphors behindSHUI(WATER) andHUO(FIRE) in ancient and modern Chinese

Abstract

AbstractThis paper investigates the conceptual metonymies and metaphors behindSHUI(水, water) andHUO(火, fire), two of the Five Elements (五行,wu-xing) in traditional Chinese thought, as recorded in ancient and modern Chinese. Our analysis shows that: (1)SHUIin ancient Chinese is built around the conceptual metonymiesSHUIFOR FEATURES OF WATER,SHUIFOR BODY LIQUID andSHUIFOR BODIES OF WATER and the conceptual metaphors THOSE WITH FEATURES OF WATER ARESHUIand THOSE WITH FEATURES OFSHUI XINGARESHUI. (2)HUOin ancient Chinese is built around the metonymiesHUOFOR FEATURES OF FIRE andHUOFOR THE POWER/DESTRUCTION OF FIRE and the metaphors THOSE WITH FEATURES OF FIRE AREHUOand THOSE WITH FEATURES OFHUO XINGAREHUO. (3)SHUIandHUOin modern Chinese show an overall similarity with their ancient counterparts, the main differences being that the metaphor THOSE WITH FEATURES OFSHUI XINGARESHUIis absent from modern Chinese and that the metaphor THOSE WITH FEATURES OFHUO XINGAREHUOhas a much narrower coverage in modern Chinese. We discuss what this kind of selective inheritance suggests about the development of Chinese people’s conceptualization of the world.