3.7.4. Metonymy

Metоnуmy is a shift of names between things that are connected in reality / substitution of the name of an attribute of a thing for the name of the thing itself. The transfer is conditioned by spatial, temporal, causal, symbolic, instrumental, functional connections. The resulting polysemy is regular: it embraces whole classes of Ws.

Spatial relations: the name of the place is used for the people occupying it: the chair ‘the chairman’, the bar ‘the lawyers’, the pulpit ‘the priests’, town ‘the inhabitants of a town’, the House ‘the members of the House of Commons / Lords’.

A causal relationship: ME fear < MidE fere/feer/fer < OE fær ‘danger’, ‘unexpected attack’. States & properties serve as names for objects & people possessing them: youth, age, authorities, forces. The name of the action serves to name the result of the action: ME kill < MidE killen ‘to hit on the head’. Emotions may be named by the movements that accompany them: frown, start.

Symbol for thing symbolised: the crown ‘monarchy’. The instrument for the product: hand for ‘handwriting. Receptacle for content: the kettle is boiling. The material for particular article: glass, iron, copper, nickel.

The name of a part for the whole: the royal horse ‘cavalry’, foot ‘infantry’, the expressions I want to have a word with you. The reverse process: OE ceol ‘a ship’ develops into keel ‘a lowest longitudinal frame of a ship’.

Functional change: the shift is between names of things substituting one another in human practice. The early instrument for writing was a feather (OE pen<OFr penne<It penna<Lat penna ‘feather’). Pilot (the steersman).

Common names metonymically derived from proper names: macadam – a type of pavement after its inventor John McAdam; diesel / diesel engine – a type of engine invented by Rudolf Diesel. The process of nomination includes ellipsis (Diesel engine – diesel). Many international physical & technical units are named after scientists: ampere after André Marie Ampère; ohm, volt, watt.

Transfers by contiguity often involve place names: The White House, The Pentagon, Wall Street, Downing Street, named after a 17th century British diplomat.

Geographical names turned into common Ns to name the goods exported / originating there. Such transfer by contiguity is combined with ellipsis: astrakhan (fur), china (ware), damask (steel), holland (linen), morocco (leather), names for wines / kinds of cheese: champagne, burgundy, madeira; brie cheese, cheddar, roquefort.

The process can consist of several stages: cardigan ‘a knitted jacket opening down the front’ is named after the 7th earl of Cardigan whose name is from Cardigan / Cardiganshire, a county in Wales. Raglan ‘a loose coat with sleeves extending in one piece to the neckline’ is named after field-marshal lord Raglan. Wellingtons / Wellington boots ‘boots extending to the top of the knee in front but cut low in back’ after the 1st Duke of Wellington.

3.7.5. Hyperbole, litotes, irony, euphemism

Hyperbole (from Gr hyperbolē ‘exceed’) is an exaggerated statement expressing an intensely emotional attitude: A fresh egg has a world of power (Bellow). The emotional tone is due to the illogical character in which the direct denotative & the contextual emotional meanings are combined.

When people say “I’ve told you fifty times,” They mean to scold & very often do. Byron’s intonation is colloquial, the poet is giving his observations as to colloquial expressions. This hyperbole is linguistic, not poetic. The same: It’s absolutely maddening, You’ll be the death of me, I hate troubling you, It’s monstrous, It’s a nightmare, A thousand pardons, A thousand thanks, Haven’t seen you for ages, I'd give the world to, I shall be eternally grateful, I'd love to do it.

The difference between a poetic & linguistic hyperbole: the former creates an image; in the latter the denotative meaning fades out & exaggerating Ws serve as general signs of emotion without specifying the emotion itself: absolutely! lovely! magnificent! splendid! marvellous! wonderful! amazing! incredible!

The reverse figure is litotes (from Gr litos ‘plain’, ‘meagre’), understatement, expressing the affirmative by the negative of its contrary: not bad / not half bad, not small, no coward. Some understatements do not contain negations: rather decent; I could do with a cup of tea. Understatement expresses a desire to conceal / suppress one’s feelings, to seem indifferent & calm: “But this is frightful, Jeeves!” “Certainly somewhat disturbing, sir.” (Wodehouse) It is a typically British way of putting things, more characteristic of male colloquial speech. Understatement is rich in connotations: irony, disparagement & expressiveness.

Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by Ws of opposite sense, especially a simulated adoption of the opposite point of view for the purpose of ridicule / disparagement: You’ve got us into a nice mess! A pretty mess you’ve made of it!

Euphemism is referring to something unpleasant by using milder Ws & phrases so that a formerly inoffensive W receives a disagreeable meaning (pass away ‘die’).

Changes depending on the social attitude to the object named, connected with social evaluation & emotional tone: amelioration & pejoration of meaning. Amelioration: OE cwen ‘a woman’ > ME queen, OE cniht ‘a young servant’ > ME knight; through associations with aristocratic / town life: civil, chivalrous, urbane; gentleman, a key-W in the history of English, that originally meant ‘a man of gentle (high) birth’ came to mean ‘an honourable & well-bred person’. The meaning of gentle which included only social values now belongs to the ethics & denotes ‘kind’, ‘not rough’, ‘polite’. A similar process is observed in noble – originally ‘belonging to the nobility’.

The reverse process is called pejoration / degradation: a lowering in social scale connected with the appearance of a derogatory & scornful emotive tone reflecting the disdain of the upper classes towards the lower ones: ME knave < OE cnafa || Germ Knabe meant at first ‘boy’, then ‘servant’, finally became a term of abuse & scorn. Blackguard, in the Middle Ages a guard of iron pots & other kitchen utensils, black with soot. The present scornful meaning is ‘scoundrel’. Boor (originally ‘peasant’ || Germ Bauer) came to mean ‘a rude, awkward, ill-mannered person’. Clown (the original meaning ‘peasant’ / ‘farmer’) means ‘a clumsy, boorish, uncouth & ignorant man’ & ‘one who entertains, as in a circus, by jokes, antics’. The French borrowing villain (‘farm servant’) gradually passed to its present meaning ‘scoundrel’.