In search of the beginnings of a foodsemic boom in the history of English

Abstract

Food unquestionably plays a vital role in our lives, as it is essential for our day-to-day existence. It is multifacetedly mirrored in the way we picture the world and communicate with one another. Frequently, food names are deployed metaphorically/metonymically to conceptualize either human beings themselves and/or various aspects and features of their existence. Sometimes, such metaphors are analysed from a synchronic perspective, for example by Martsa (2001, 2013) and Kövecses (2002) and they are perceived as a means of communication. However, food metaphors may be analysed from a diachronic perspective and, as shown by Kleparski (2008, 2012), Kudła (2009, 2016), and Kowalczyk (2015, 2017) among others, in the history of English, food metaphors are traceable in various historically distant periods, and abound especially in most recent periods of the history of English when there are high levels of foodsemic figurative extensions. As shown by Kowalczyk (2024), between the years 1800-1950, there were over 130 cases of food-related metaphor. These numbers stand in sharp contrast to the humble beginnings of food metaphor in Old English and the Early Modern English period. The aim of this paper is to specify the period of intensification and heightened productivity of this phenomenon. The 16th century will be highlighted as the time of a true foodsemic boom that sparked off the process of blooming of this metaphorical mechanism. In the late Middle English period, which spans the 14th and 15th century, only a handful of food-related metaphors are registered and supported by historical lexicographic sources. By contrast, during the course of the 16th century, there were around two dozen food-related cases of metaphorization.