Mapping Conceptual Variation through A Thesaurus of Old English and Evoke

Abstract

The topic of figurative language in Old English (OE) has recently become the focus of substantial research. In this article, the authors will describe work on the semantic description of the lexicon of shame words in OE and in particular the taxonomical organisation of this lexicon on the basis of different kinds of semantic mappings (metonymic, metaphorical). Next, they will explore the use of the Evoke platform as a means of visualising and navigating this lexicon and show how it can be used to enrich A Thesaurus of Old English (TOE). The authors also describe ongoing work on the modelling and publication of this data as a linked data resource consisting of a lexicon and a taxonomy in SKOS of different kinds of metaphoric/metonymic sense shifts.