Renate Schlesier, "KRATĒR. The Mixing-Vessel as Metaphorical Space in Ancient Greek Tradition", in: Fabian Horn and Cilliers Breytenbach (Eds.), Spatial Metaphors. Ancient Texts and Transformations, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2016, 69–84

Abstract

Aristotle conceptualized the noun metaphora (literally ‘transfer’) as the result of a linguistic and cognitive process of transfer presupposing a comparison or an analogy between two material or mental elements. However, such a notion of metaphor is unable to convey the impact of semantic mixtures between those elements. This is demonstrated by the term kratēr (literally ‘mixing-object’) in ancient Greek poetry, where it is used as an emblem and not necessarily a metaphor for different forms of transfer, spatial and non-spatial ones, but also of mixtures, taking place in the symposion.

Published In

Fabian Horn and Cilliers Breytenbach (Eds.), Spatial Metaphors. Ancient Texts and Transformations, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2016