Istota metafor ŚMIERCI jako „odejścia”, „pójścia” i „odlotu” w wierszach nagrobnych

Abstract

The paper deals with describing metaphors of death expressed by means of verbs that mean motion (“go away”, “go”, “fly away”). The author explains what makes the metaphor of death as “going away” popular and shows the reasons of the meaning of higher frequency of formulating the notion of death in terms of “going” and “flying away”. Analyzed texts of epitaphs were gathered by the author mainly in graveyards of Świętokrzyskie province. The basis of description of metaphors was an assumption that they reflect a culturally conditioned way of understanding death. The author refers to indirect linguistics and to the method of definition sequences. Moreover the metaphors were described cognitively. In the paper the Bible was indicated as a cultural source. The author explains linguistic and mental mechanisms of personalizing the deceased. Meanings of the metaphors were described in culturally conditioned mourning and, joined to it, the senders’ intentions of tombstone founders. The metaphors of death were shown in the perspective of religious discourse. In order to explain non-standard formulations of the phenomenon of dying the author referred to a literary tradition.