LessonsAl-Sakkaki on Derivative Metaphor, Implicit Metaphor, and the Role of Imaginative CluesQuiz

أظفار المنية الشبيهة بالسبع
Claws of death, imagined as resembling a predator.

This expression vividly combines death, the predator image, and claws as the associated feature. It is therefore a helpful model for the relationship between implicit and imaginative metaphor, but one model cannot alone supply a universal rule for every verb, particle, and predicative construction.

The verbal use of “claws,” the hypothesized form, and the claim that death is predator-like should be distinguished. What makes a model illuminating does not necessarily become a definitional condition for every other instance.

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The claws of death as a model and its limits

Al-Sakkaki on Derivative Metaphor, Implicit Metaphor, and the Role of Imaginative Clues

أظفار المنية الشبيهة بالسبع
Claws of death, imagined as resembling a predator.

This expression vividly combines death, the predator image, and claws as the associated feature. It is therefore a helpful model for the relationship between implicit and imaginative metaphor, but one model cannot alone supply a universal rule for every verb, particle, and predicative construction.

The verbal use of “claws,” the hypothesized form, and the claim that death is predator-like should be distinguished. What makes a model illuminating does not necessarily become a definitional condition for every other instance.