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SuchaprocessisreflectedinthesemanticsofvariousSanskritwords.Thiscan
beexemplifiedbytheworddmhaswhichnamescommonfeaturesofthreeevents:
beingenclosedbythemountains,beingsurroundedbyenemiesandexperiencing
night.AsIhaveshownelsewhere,theircommonfeatureisalackofpossibility
tomoveabstractedintothenotionofalackofphysicalspace29.Thisconceptin
turnbecamethesourcedomainfortheconceptualisationofanundesirablestate
ofdiscomfort,connectedwithillnesses,unhappiness,suffering,lackofcognition,
evil,lackoffreedomanddeath.Thesemanticsoftheworddmhasreflectssource
andtargetdomainstogetherwithconceptualoperationsaimingatabstractionand
generalisation.Themainmeaning,highlightedinmostcontexts,isdiscomfort.Use
ofitsmeaningasalackofphysicalspaceisattestedmorerarely.Itsmeaningfor
anyofthethreeabove-mentionedeventsishighlightedevenmoreinfrequentlyand
alwaysinveryspecificcontexts.Thusthesemanticsoftheworddmhasshows
atendencytobuiltanabstractandgeneraltermbyacognitivefocusonthetarget
domainofamappingandbydetachingitfromitssourcedomain30.
TheÇgvedicthinkersalsocreatedgeneralandabstractcategorieswhichoperate
onlyonaconceptuallevelanddonothavealinguisticcounterpart.Icallthese
categoriesthedefiningevents,thegeneraldomainsandthegeneralmodelofreality
transformation.
1.4.1.Definingevents
Definingeventsarethedomainswhichrefertothemostimportantexperienceof
theÇgvedicpoetsandwhichmoststronglyinfluencedtheirthinking.Itseemsthat
theywereawareofthismotivatinginfluenceandthereisnodoubtthattheywanted
todescribetheseeventsinacoherentwayintheirhymns.Inthiswaytheycould
createaconsistentsystemofbeliefsaboutcosmic,socialandcognitiveprocesses.
IcallthemdefiningeventsbecauseoftheirformativeinfluenceonÇgvedicthinking
andbecausetheyplaytheroleofbasicaxiomsordefinitionswithintheirconceptual
system.Intermsofcognitivelinguistics,thedefiningeventsaretheculturalmodels
whichweretransformedbythepoetsinsuchawaythattheycouldbeusedas
philosophicalconcepts.
Idividethedefiningeventsintothreegroups:theexpansion,theappearanceof
themorninglightandthepressingofSoma.Theprocesseswhichbelongtoeachof
thesegroupsIalsocallthedefiningevents.Theexpansionencompassesthedefining
eventsconnectedwiththeimmigrationoftheAryansintothePanjabandbattlesthey
29
Fordetails,cf.Jurewiczforthc.b.
30
Agoodexampleofmetonymicmotivationofapolysemicwordisthewordvdna.AsIhave
shownelsewhere(Jurewicz2004a),itsbroadsemanticrange(‘wood’,‘tree’,‘forest’,‘firedrill’,
‘vesselforSoma’)istheresultofmetonymicmappings(PartForWhole/WholeForPartand
MaterialForProduct).Itsothermeaningsof‘cloud’and‘waters’areestablishedonthebasis
offunctionplayedbywatersandcloudsinthedefiningeventsandphilosophicalmodels(see
sections3.3.4,7.2):theyarephenomenaclosingandhidinglifegivingphenomena.
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