Литература по учебной дисциплине «Практика устной и письменной речи»

2.2. The psychological classification of semantic changes
A necessary condition of any semantic change, no matter what its cause, is some connection between the old meaning and the new. There are two main types of this connection: (a) similarity of meaning and (b) contiguity of meaning.
А. The main tropes that express similarity of meaning are simile (a figurative comparison) and metaphor (transference of the name of one object or phenomenon onto another upon the principle of a certain similarity/likeness between them). A metaphor is, actually, a hidden simile. Cf.: The old man was sly like a fox → We did not want to talk to the sly old fox.
Metaphors may be based upon very different types of similarity. E.g., the similarity of shape: the head of a cabbage, the teeth of a saw; similarity of function or use: the Head of the school (of an army, of a procession, of a household), the key to a mystery; similarity of position: foot of a mountain, foot of a page; similarity of duration of time and space: long distance → long speech, a short path → a short time.
Metaphorically, a woman may be called a peach, a lemon, a cat, a goose, an old mare, a lioness, etc. Animal metaphors, like the just-listed, constitute a specific device of similarity—zoosemy. Moreover, if animal names are used as proper nouns and the characters display human qualities/traits, the figure of similarity is called allegory: e.g., Суддею був Ведмідь, Вовки були підсудки. (In a broader sense, an allegory is a piece of art or literature, like a poem or story, in which people, things or happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning: e.g., in the movie Avatar, Pandora Woods represent the Amazon rainforest).
Furthermore, if the similarity ground transforms names of animals, objects, other people, etc. into nicknames of people, the respective trope is metaphoric antonomasia: e.g., Hide your angry smile, Mr. Crocodile; the King for Elvis Presley; He is her Romeo. Metaphoric antonomasia sometimes involves metaphoric epithets (figurative attributes): e.g., the Iron Lady for Margaret Thatcher. These figurative attributes (epithets) are rather frequent: e.g., deep relief, rosy dreams, etc.
Metaphors can be used as pure means of nomination: e.g., computer mouse, four legs of a table, etc. Or they retain their figurative flavour: e.g., Another day has come; Thoughts fly; I was glad to see the pancake of the sun again, etc.
If human qualities are given to animals, objects, phenomena, or ideas, this metaphoric figure of speech is called personification: e.g., The sky was crying.
Canonized metaphors become symbols: e.g., the rose for love, the dove for peace, etc.