Mortal hurry and mortal fine: on the rise of intensifying mortal

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents a corpus-based study on the origin and development of a death-related intensifier: the adjective and adverb mortal. Drawing on a variety of historical sources, it will be shown that mortal has progressively come to adopt more general meanings, i.e., it has come to be grammaticalised as an intensifier over time. The history of this form will be explored through a collocational analysis and in the light of two key semantic variables: type of meaning (descriptive, affective, or intensifying) and semantic prosody. The paper focuses on British English and covers the history of mortal from its adoption in Middle English to the close of the nineteenth century.