Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary

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Over the past 30 years, it has become clear that metaphor is not simply a literary phenomenon; metaphorical thinking underlies the way we make sense of the world conceptually. When we talk about 'a healthy economy' or 'a clear argument' we are using expressions that imply the mapping of one domain of experience (e.g. medicine, sight) onto another (e.g. finance, perception). When we describe an argument in terms of warfare or destruction ('he demolished my case'), we may be saying something about the society we live in. The study of metaphor is therefore of vital interest to scholars in many fields, including linguists and psychologists, as well as to scholars of literature.Key questions about metaphor remain to be answered; for example, how did metaphors arise? Which domains of experience are most prominent in metaphorical expressions? How have the metaphors available in English developed over the centuries in response to social changes? With the completion of the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (HTOED), we can begin to address these questions comprehensively and in detail for the first time. That is what this project plans to do.Almost half a century in the making, HTOED is the first reference book in the world to offer a comprehensive semantic classification of the words forming the written record of a language. In the case of English, this record covers thirteen centuries of change and development, in metaphor as in other areas. We will use the HTOED evidence base to investigate how the language of one domain of experience (e.g. medicine) contributes to others (e.g. finance). As we proceed, we will be able to see innovations in metaphorical thinking at particular periods or in particular areas of experience, such as the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the early days of psychoanalysis. The organisation of HTOED into three general sections, the External World, the Mental World and the Social World, each containing detailed subcategories, lends itself to this kind of research.To achieve our goal, we will devise tools for the analysis of metaphor historically, starting by designing a database that will allow us to identify instances where words extend their meanings from one domain into another. The database will generate an annotated 'Metaphor Map' which will allow us to demonstrate when and how significant shifts in meaning took place. Online displays will take the form of lists of uses accompanied by visualisations such as graphs. On the basis of this evidence, the team will produce a book examining key domains of metaphorical meaning, together with a Historical Thesaurus of English Metaphor. As the project develops, and after its completion, the Metaphor Map will be made freely available on the project website to researchers, teachers and the general public, with materials giving guidance on its use. Users will be able to contact the project team and to read about developments in an online blog.The metaphors available to and articulated by a community are an index of its ways of thinking over time. Thanks to the HTOED and the Mapping Metaphor project, we now have the opportunity to track how metaphorical ways of thinking have changed over more than a millennium. The project outcomes will therefore be of interest not only to writers and academics in many fields, but to everyone with an interest in meaning, thought and language. It will also provide a useful resource for teaching in subjects such as semantics and historical linguistics, including making data available for undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.