Old English simile of inequality: structure overview

Abstract

The article deals with an Old English simile whose ground is disproportionately more inherent in the tenor, the latter surpassing a prototypical maximum of a salient feature. It sheds some light on the structural typology of the simile of inequality. Depending on the type of connection, three major kinds of the simile of inequality are singled out, which are further categorised into subtypes regarding the grammatical category of their elements as well as their positioning within the structure. A relatively low productivity of Old English the simile of inequality is justified in terms of its semantic idiosyncrasy, which makes the tenor more prominent than the vehicle, as well as the semantics of its comparison markers, which contribute to the construction’s expressing difference implying similarity. The article touches upon the quantitative and chronological characteristics of the Old English simile of inequality. It also outlines the specificity of the contexts in which such constructions are used.

Keywords:

• Simile of inequality
• type of connection
• semantics
• structure
• comparison marker
• old English

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Jeroen van de Weijer, College of International Studies, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

SUBJECTS:

• English language
• Grammar, Syntax & Linguistic Structure
• Historical & Comparative Linguistics
• Stylistics
• Language & Linguistics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 When addressing the matter of the constituents of a simile, I will follow the terminology of I. A. Richards (1936), who introduced technical terms to describe metaphor: the tenor (primum comparandum) and the vehicle (secundum comparatum), which later were expanded into the tenor, the vehicle and the ground (tertium comparationis). Thus, in the simile Her lips are red like roses, the tenor is lips, the vehicle is roses while the ground is red. This simile is closed (a term used by Beardsley, 1981; Dawes, 1998; Margolis, 1957) because the ground is explicitly expressed.

2 According to Online Etymology Dictionary gelic meant “similar, resembling”, swa meant “in this way”, swylc – “just as, as, in like manner”.

3 Every 11th use of gelice, every 3^d use of gelicra or gelicost; every 4th use of gelicnysse; every 10th use of swylce; every 58^th use of swa is found in Old English similes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mariana Oleniak

Mariana Oleniak is an Associate Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine. Her research and publications focus on the historical perspective of similes in English.