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In:At the Crossroads of Historical and Cognitive Linguistics
Edited by Anna Rogos-Hebda and Heli Tissari
[Figurative Thought and Language 21] 2026
► pp. 200–221

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A love story

A culturally informed diachronic account of love metaphors between Latin and Italian

 | University of Genova
 | University of Genova
Published online: 29 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.21.09str
Abstract
Building on the extensive body of cognitive linguistic literature on emotion concepts, this chapter presents a corpus-based investigation of the metaphorical uses of the word amor(e) (‘love’) in the long diachrony from Latin to Italian. The analysis reveals the persistence of metaphorical patterns as well as their variation over time, in terms of both type and token frequency. On the basis of the data discussed, we suggest how this kind of historical research can benefit from central tenets of cognitive linguistics and how, in turn, historical analyses can help refine some assumptions generally taken for granted by cognitivist scholars.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and methods
  • 3.Data analysis
    • 3.1A case of diachronic persistence: love as fire
    • 3.2A case of diachronic change: love as an opponent
    • 3.3A case of persistence or change? love as a transferred object
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (51)
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