Old English Simile of Equality: The Highest Degree of Similarity

Mariana Oleniak

doi:10.2478/rela-2018-0023

Authors

Mariana Oleniak Vasyl` Stus Donetsk National University, Ukraine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0023

Keywords:

Old English, simile, tenor, vehicle, salient feature

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an account of Old English similes of equality marked by the superlative degree of the adjective gelic. It deals with the structure and semantics of similes marked by the (ge)/(on)licost component, which, unlike in Modern English, being subjected to gradation, can show the highest degree of similarity between referents. The article presents the criteria for structural classification of the simile in question describing two major structural types, that employ nouns in the dative or nominative case, as well as its semantic interpretation from macro and micro levels of perspective. The paper examines every simile with the (ge)/(on)licost component found in Old English manuscripts belonging to various textual genres.

References

Amodio, Mark. 2014. The Anglo-Saxon Literature Handbook. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Anderson, Orval. 1951. Once More: the OE Simile. Philological Papers 8. 1-12.
Google Scholar

Baker, Peter. 2012. Introduction to Old English. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Beardsley, Monroe. 1981. Aesthetics: problems in the philosophy of criticism. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
Google Scholar

Cavill, Paul. 1999. Maxims in Old English poetry. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.
Google Scholar

Chernousova Olga. 2014. Funkcionirovanie obraznyx sravnenij v regionalnoj xudozhestvennoj proze i ustnoj rechi dialektonositelej. Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.01 „russkij yazyk”. Volgograd.
Google Scholar

Chudyk, Dorota. 2012. Rosyjskie i polskie konstrukcje porównawcze z przymiotnikami nazywającymi barwę zieloną (semantyka i struktura). Zeszyty naukowe uniwersytetu rzeszowskiego. Seria filologiczna: Glottodydaktyka 4 : Zeszyt 76. 9-20.
Google Scholar

Dawes, Gregory. 1998. The body in question: metaphor and meaning in the interpretation of Ephesians 5:21-33. Leiden: Brill.
Google Scholar

Denisova Galina. 2009. Kognitivnyj mexanizm sravneniya v nemeckom yazyke. Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni doktora filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.04 „germanskie yazyki”. Samara.
Google Scholar

Fisher, Olga. 1992. Syntax. In Norman Blake (ed), The Cambridge History of the English Language, vol. II: 1066-1476, 207-407. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Gergel, Aleksandr. 2014. Obraznye paradigmy sravnenij, xarakterizuyushhix muzhchinu i zhenshhinu (na materiale sovremennoj angloyazychnoj zhenskoj prozy). Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.04 „Germanskie yazyki”. Ufa.
Google Scholar

Gergel, Remus. 2008. Comparatives and Inversion in English: A (Necessarily) Diachronic Account. U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics., vol. 14.1. [Online]. 177-190. Available from: https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=pwpl [Accessed: 30th Oktober 2018].
Google Scholar

Heaney, Seamus. 1999. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. London: Faber.
Google Scholar

Kazakov Andrei. 2005. Obraznye sredstva i paradigmaticheskie ryady obrazov s nazvaniyami chastej tela v sovremennom anglijskom yazyke. Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.04 „germanskie yazyki”. Moskva.
Google Scholar

Kondakova Irina. 2005. Obraznye sredstva, soderzhashhie toponimy v anglijskom yazyke : avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.04 „germanskie yazyki”. Moskva.
Google Scholar

Kryvenko Ganna. 2006. Zoosemіzmi v anglіjskіj ta ukraїnskіj movax: semantiko-kognіtivnij і funkcіonalno-pragmatichnij aspekti. Avtoref. dis. na zdobuttya nauk. stupenya kand. fіlolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.17 „porіvnyalno-іstorichne і tipologіchne movoznavstvo”. Kiїv.
Google Scholar

Margolis, Joseph. 1957. Notes on the Logic of Simile, Metaphor and Analogy. American Speech, vol. 32, No. 3, 186-189. Durham: Duke University Press.
Google Scholar

McLaughlin, John. 1983. Old English Syntax. Max Niemeyer Verlag: Tübingen.
Google Scholar

Merritt, Carlton C. 2013. Descriptive Syntax of the Old English Charters. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Google Scholar

Mitchel, Bruce. 1985. Old English Syntax. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Google Scholar

Moon, Rosamund. 2008. Conventionalized as-similes in English: a problem case. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 3-37. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Google Scholar

Nevanlinna, Saara. 1993. The Structure of Middle English similes of equality. Early English in the Computer Age: Explorations Through the Helsinki Corpus. 139-170. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Available from: publication/228509486_Support_structure_for_linguistic_creativity_A_computational_analysis_of_creative_irony_in_similes [Accessed 18th October 2018].
Google Scholar

Riabikina Nataliia. 2006. Poetika ocenochnyx znachenij v proizvedeniyax i. a. Bunina. Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.01 „russkij yazyk”. Moskva.
Google Scholar

Rumiantseva Marina. 2007. Tipologicheskie osobennosti komparativnyx konstrukcij (na materiale russkogo i nemeckogo yazykov). Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.20 „sravnitelno-istoricheskoe, sopostavitelnoe i tipologicheskoe zykoznanie”. Chelyabinsk.
Google Scholar

Shevchenko Anna. 2003. Sravnenie kak komponent idiostilya pisatelya-bilingva v. nabokova (na materiale russko- i angloyazychnyx proizvedenij avtora). Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.19 „teoriya yazyka”. Saratov.
Google Scholar

Shie, Jian-Shiung. 2007. The Semiotic Structure and Semantic Composition of English Frozen Similes. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 3, No. 1, 57-68.
Google Scholar

Stodnick, Jacqueline, Trilling, Renee R. 2012. A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Studies. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Talko Svitlana. 2009. Lіngvoaksіologіchna semantika antropocentrichnix metafor ta porіvnyan v ukraїnskіj і anglіjskіj movax. Avtoref. dis. na zdobuttya nauk. stupenya kand. fіlolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.17 „porіvnyalno-іstorichne і tipologіchne movoznavstvo”. Kiїv.
Google Scholar

Tolkien, John. 2014. Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Google Scholar

Tomita, Saoko. 2008. Similes in Oliver Twist: Humanisation and Dehumanisation. ERA, New Series, vol.25. № 1&2, 25-42.
Google Scholar

Tyler, Elizabeth. 2006. Old English Poetics: The Aesthetics of the Familiar in Anglo-Saxon England. York: York Medieval Press.
Google Scholar

Veale, Tony, Hao, Yanfen. 2009. Support Structures for Linguistic Creativity: A Computational Analysis of Creative Irony in Similes. [Online] Available from https://www.researchgate.net/
Google Scholar

Walker, Marilyn A. 2016. Automatically Inferring Implicit Properties in Similes. Proceedings of NAACL-HLT. [Online]. 1223–1232. Available from: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/ [Accessed: 30th October 2018].
Google Scholar

Yudina Yuliia. 2012. Modeli obrazov sravnenij v yazyke russkoj xudozhestvennoj literatury konca xx - nachala xxi vv. Avtoref. dis. na soiskanie nauch. stepeni kand. filolog. nauk : spec. 10.02.01 „russkij yazyk”. Volgograd.
Google Scholar

DOEC = Dictionary of Old English Corpus. [1981] 2009. Antonette diPaolo Healey with John Price Wilkin and Xin Xiang (compilers), The Dictionary of Old English Corpus Web Corpus, Tei-P5 Conformant Version. Toronto: University of Toronto Center for Medieval Studies DOE Project
Google Scholar

YCOE = The York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose. 2003. Ann Taylor, Anthony Warner, Susan Pintzuk, Frank Beths (compilers). Department of Language and Linguistic. Science University of York Heslington. York England YO10 5DD.
Google Scholar