Metaphorical and Metonymic Conceptualization of Blood

Abstract

The article explores the metaphorical and metonymic structure of blood in the Bible. It employs the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as the theoretical framework. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) are known for propounding this theory. In this paper we looked at metaphors and metonymies of blood in the Bible. These include such conceptualizations as blood is a container, blood is an object of value, blood is a living organism metaphors and blood stands for the whole person, blood for container, blood stands for another part of the person, blood stands for the action it is involved in metonymies. Our aim is to explore how blood is used in the Old and New Testaments to express human experiences.  The data reveals a cognitive linguistics perspective of how the people of the Bible conceptualized blood in expressing their understanding of the abstract in terms of the concrete. They also show how their experiences with blood influenced their cognition and how this influence is expressed in their language.