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In:Crises We Live By: A transdisciplinary study of crisis and its metaphors in their cultural context
Edited by Irene Leonardis
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 20] 2026
► pp. 1–18

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Crisis in ancient and contemporary uses

A concept at the crossroads of metaphor and metonymy?

 | Thesaurus linguae Latinae, LMU Munich
Published online: 5 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.20.intro
Abstract
By echoing and altering the title of Lakoff and Johnson’s seminal book (1980), Crises we live by stresses the role of embodied crisis experience(s). This introduction deepens our understanding of how the concept of crisis is conceptualised through a cluster of cognitive metaphors (activated or emphasised in line with recent or historical memories, political intentions, etc.), and additionally depends on a continuous re-elaboration over time and different cultural contexts. Being entirely embedded in Western tradition (and stemming from an Ancient Greek word), “crisis” has been permeated by the experiences and accounts of previous critical events (such as natural disasters, pandemics, and wars), which are part of collective memory and thus, through a metonymic process, stand for crisis.
Article outline
  • 1.Background to this volume
  • 2.Explaining the title
  • 3.Crises at the crossroads of metaphor and metonymy
    • 3.1So what exactly is a crisis?
    • 3.2A metonymic base for crises metaphors
    • 3.3History of crises and their contribution to the idea of crisis
  • 4.An overview of the volume
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (28)
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