Assignment 3
Question 1
An early meaning of the word coif was ‘a close-fitting cap covering the top, back, and sides of the head'. (You can do a Google image search to see what different kinds of coifs looked like.) A later meaning of the word coif was ‘the position or order of serjeant-at-law'. Do you think that this meaning developed due to metonymy or metaphor? Briefly explain your answer. (Before answering this question, you may want to take a look at the Wikipedia page for "Sarjeant-at-law"-it could provide crucial hints!)
Question 2
In Old English, the word berry was usually used to refer to grapes. In the present day, this word is usually used to refer to raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and certain other fruits. Taking into account only the nonscientific meaning of this word, has this word undergone narrowing, broadening, or neither? Briefly explain your answer.
Question 3
The word ossify has two meanings, given below (meanings taken from the 5th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary):
Meaning 1: ‘To change into bone'
Meaning 2: ‘To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern' (example: The central ideas of liberalism have ossified.)
Which meaning do you think is the newer one? (You may find this question easier to answer after you've figured out what the root of ossify is. Remember that there's an appendix of word elements at the back of your textbook!) Has the newer meaning developed through metaphor, or through metonymy? Briefly explain your answer.
Question 4
(Part 1 of 2)
The word gratuitous has two meanings, listed below:
Meaning 1: ‘unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified' (as in gratuitous criticism, gratuitous violence, etc.)
Meaning 2: ‘given without cost or obligation; free' (as in gratuitous legal advice; that is, legal advice offered pro bono)
Figure out the root of this word (it's in the word element list of one of the early chapters in the textbook). What is its meaning? Which of the two meanings of gratuitous is closer to this meaning?
Question 5
(Part 2 of 2)
Now consider the other meaning of gratuitous (that is, the meaning that's less similar to the meaning of the root). This other meaning has presumably come about by some sort of semantic change. Of the terms broadening, narrowing, melioration, pejoration, and euphemism, which one best describes the result of this semantic change?
(Note that this question is a continuation of the previous question, 4a.)
Question 6
Your textbook (p. 141) discusses a type of semantic change called ellipsis. The authors invoke ellipsis to explain the multiple meanings of microwave, which are as follows:
Meaning 1: ‘Electromagnetic radiation between radio waves and infrared waves in the electromagnetic spectrum...'
Meaning 2: ‘Microwave oven'
Specifically, the authors suggest that, originally, the word microwave did not have meaning 2; instead, the full phrase microwave oven had to be used. Over time, however, the word oven got omitted from this phrase; this, in turn, meant that microwave began to have meaning 2 in addition to 1.
However, rather than relying on the concept of "ellipsis," we could instead say that metonymy is involved in the development of meaning 2. In what way are meanings 1 and 2 metonymically related?
Question 7
The word check has many meanings. One of them is ‘A written order to a bank to pay the amount specified from funds on deposit' (e.g., I wrote a check for 200 dollars). The Oxford English Dictionary provides a discussion of the history of this particular meaning. I've quoted it below:
"From being the name of the counterfoil of an Exchequer or other bill, the purpose of which was to check forgery or alteration, the name check appears to have been applied to any bill, note, or draft having a counterfoil, and thus to its present sense, where a counterfoil (though usual) is not even necessary."
(The Exchequer was the government department responsible for collecting taxes in the United Kingdom, lasting until the 19th century. If you're unsure what a counterfoil is, you can look it up.)
Has the current meaning of check arisen through metaphor or metonymy? Briefly explain your answer.