The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East: Lexical Meaning as a Projection of Embodied Experience
This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-worl...
Autor principal: | |
---|---|
Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
Lenguaje: | Inglés |
Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Publicado: |
Brill
2014
|
En: |
Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions
Año: 2014, Volumen: 14, Número: 1, Páginas: 87-113 |
Otras palabras clave: | B
Purity
impurity
pollution
Hittite
Akkadian
Sumerian
Biblical Hebrew
semantics
cognitive linguistics
radiance
embodiment
social contexts
|
Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Sumario: | This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-world bodily experience. An examination of purity terms reveals that all of them can be related to a concrete sense pertaining to radiance (brilliance, brightness, shininess). The article then traces the semantic development of purity terms in distinct experiential contexts and shows how semantic analysis can elucidate the inner logic of fundamental religious concepts. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1569-2124 |
Obras secundarias: | In: Journal of ancient Near Eastern religions
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15692124-12341258 |