The Metaphorical/Metonymic Values of ‘Hand’ in Texts of 1400-1600s. A Corpus-driven Investigation of French, Spanish and Italian

This contribution proposes a corpus-driven description of the metaphorical/metonymic values of the lexeme ‘hand’ in Spanish, French and Italian in 15th -17 th centuries texts. Metaphorical and metonymic reinterpretation of the lexeme is described in terms of embodiment of sensorial experience, namely a shift from concrete to abstract meaning, as several grammaticalisation and typological studies have claimed. Considering data gathered from diachronic corpora and dictionaries, the investigation aims at identifying the extended uses of ‘hand’ in the earlier phases of the languages. On one hand, a qualitative analysis of the semantic mapping, syntactic pattern, lexicalisation degree, and functional value is provided to identify cross-linguistic commonalities. On the other, the quantitative dimension is taken into account to verify the degree of productivity/conventionalisation of each semantic shift and of the cognitive process involved.