CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE WORDS ÉSZ AND ELME IN OLD HUNGARIAN

Abstract

The topic of my article is the partial reconstruction of the conceptualization of the notion ész (’mind’) in Old Hungarian based on data collected from 23 codicis. The sub-goal of this research is an important element of a longer one, which is to follow the conceptualization of ELME (another word for ’mind’) from the beginnings of writing to the present day. In order to outline the development of the concept, it is essential to examine ész as a synonym, therefore, in the first stage I analyzed the Old Hungarian data of elme (see Szabó 2021), and then I compared these two words. Later on I intend to extend the study to all digitally available language monuments. The aim of my study is not only to shed light on the conceptualization of a single word, but also to gain a closer understanding of conceptualizing processes through diachronic metaphorical studies, and to draw more general conclusions from the evolution of the concept that enrich cognitive linguistics.

In this study, I briefly summarize the results of my previous research on the mind ’elme’, and then, after analyzing the metaphorical expressions, I address the similarities and differences between the metaphors of the word ész and elme. As a result of the comparison, we will see that the interactions between synonyms work here as well: elme has many mappings that do not have too many occurrences, but are all the more varied; in the case of the word of ész, on the other hand, the incidence of a single representation is remarkably high, and this narrows the use and meanings of the word, but ensures its survival against elme.