[Lexicog] an English idiom

[John Roberts]

Ken Hill wrote:

> In his various observations about the metaphorical problems involved with
> expressions involving "swallow", Rich Rhodes raises the question of where
> such information might be put in a thorough description of the language. I
> suggest it might be put at the dictionary entry for "swallow" itself.

I agree, and NODE does do this. NODE sets up all its entries using a system
of core sense and subsense. Core meanings represent typical, central uses of
the word in question in modern standard English and represents the most
literal sense. This is not necessarily the most frequent meaning because
figurative senses are sometimes the most frequent. But the core sense is the
meaning accepted by native speakers as the one that is most established as
literal and central. Figurative usage is one of the categories of subsense.
Others are specialized use and meaning shift.

The illustration they give is "backbone" which has a core sense of "the
series of vertebrae in a person or animal extending from the skull to the
pelvis ..." and a figurative subsense of "the chief support of a system or
organization ..."

But we don't have to see how "swallow" is used in other languages to decide
where figurative uses of this word should be recorded. Note first, the
expression we have been focussing on is actually "swallow up" and not
"swallow". Although neither NODE nor COBUILD treat "swallow up" as a lexeme
distinctive from "swallow" it does have a different range of meaning. For
example,

"My soul is swallowed by sorrow."

doesn't have the same figurative impact as

"My soul is swallowed up in sorrow."

Also Chambers dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms gives a more limited range
of synonyms for "swallow up" than for "swallow".

Note too that the semantics of most of the synonyms of "swallow up" do not
allow them to be used in just the same way figuratively as "swallow up".

"My soul is swallowed up in sorrow."
"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow." (NIV)
"My soul is engulfed by sorrow."
"My soul is consumed by ?sorrow." ["sorrow" is too passive to be consuming]

"My soul is ?absorbed by sorrow." [naa]
"My soul is ?eaten up by sorrow." [naa]
"My soul is ?enveloped in sorrow." [naa]
"My soul is ?gobbled up by sorrow." [naa]
"My soul is ?overrun by sorrow." [naa]

I also wondered if the figurative use of "swallow up" is dependent on the
passive construction because "Sorrow swallowed up my soul" implies more
agency on the part of "sorrow". But there are a range of examples of
"swallow up" used figuratively and actively on the internet, if not
elsewhere:

"Cos you swallowed up my soul, and you wasted all my youth" from Song "The
Moment Of Truth"

"Silence crept in and swallowed up my soul" from Sonnet I

"How often would the Roaring Lion of Hell have devoured and swallowed up my
soul had not the charity of thy heart opposed him?"

"A godlike sublimity swallowed up my soul."

So the nuances of the figurative uses of "swallow up" need to be recorded
under the dictionary entry for "swallow up". NODE have a couple of subsenses
of "swallow" which are actually senses of "swallow up" but they don't say
so. E.g. subsense (5) 'take in and cause to disappear; engulf: "the dark
mist swallowed her up"' and subsense (6) 'completely use up (money or
resources): "debts swallowed up most of the money he had got for the
house"'.

Note too that with subsense (5) its use in "the dark mist swallowed her up"
is not figurative because the dark mist did take her in and caused her to
disappear. Likewise, if we apply subsense (5) to

"My soul is swallowed up in sorrow."

then it is no longer figurative.

John Roberts




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