Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Brian Tucker" <jbtucker AT metroshores.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 9:56 AM
Subject: RE: Conceptual Metaphor Theory & Hebrew


> Dear Brian,
> This is a fascinating topic!
> Does the article discuss how to recognize metaphor
> or allegory and how to recognize when the biblical writer is being
literal?

1. Reading through a given Hebrew text metaphors may be recognized when one
thing is said to another in the formula A is B, or even understood to be
another, where only B is mentioned.

2. Metaphors may also be recognized by the use of verbs, which describe an
action not normally associated with the subject or the object, thus
suggesting that the subject or object in the sentence is being understood as
the subject or object which is normally associated with that verb, i.e.
normal subject or object of the verb is unusual subject or object of the
verb, which, through a process of logical reasoning, can also be reduced to
the formual A is B. By doing a semantic analysis of the subject mouns and
the verbs and object nouns and the verbs, it becomes apparent whether or not
the noun is the usual or an unusual noun as the subject or object of that
verb. Metaphors may then be detected by the semantic incompatibility of the
verbs and nouns, whether subject or object, within a particular syntactic
combination.

3. Metaphors may further be recognized where there is structural correlation
in our daily experience, such as in the corresponding image-schematic
concept Part/Whole, also know as metonymy...



> Can we assume the Biblical writer is using metaphor
> or allegory when he refers to YHWH scooping up clay
> and making Adam, or should we assume he is being literal, i.e.,
> that the literal is the conception of the author?
> I assume the author is being literal, and I am often accused of
> underestimating
> the biblical writers and of turning the bible into fairy tales.
> Is this issue dealt with in the article you cite, or any article?
> Do people have thoughts on this topic?

It appears number 2 above may speak to this particular example. Is the
action of the verb here normally associated with the subject and/or the
object. It seems, how one answers that question determines if this may be
seen as a metaphor or not.

Does the context and the range or meaning of these words lead one to think
(conceptualize) this passage is metaphorical?

It would be interesting to know if Uagaritic has any similiar metaphorical
descriptions concerning the divine, this would lend credibility to the
"source-target domain mappings" in which the Hebrew would have been
understood.

So understanding the conceptual framework of a metaphor in one langauge
could possibly help us understand the metaphor in our present context?

How do we determine if the receptors of the original metaphor would have
understood it?

If something was to be understood metaphorically in the source language
shouldn't one attempt to translate it metaphorically in the target language?

Brian Tucker
Riverview, MI
jbtucker AT metroshores.net