The semantics of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face’

Abstract

This study examines the figurative conceptualization of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face.’ Based primarily on the “lexical approach,” the study shows how the meaning of “face” extends metaphorically and metonymically to such abstract concepts as time, emotions, and the intellect. Most of the face-related words in Amharic are also found in other languages, though cross-linguistic differences also exist. In the comparative study of body-part terms, a new approach is proposed, the “encompassing approach,” which claims that the contrastive study of body-part terms cannot be confined to a single term. Rather, it needs to consider the potential association between individual parts and specific cognitive processes. Once these processes are considered, the cross-linguistic variations between related body-part terms become marginal. We conclude that the (near)-universal status of body parts cannot be measured by examining the explicit use of a given part only.