LessonsImplicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Competing Accounts and al-Sakkaki’s DefinitionsQuiz

أظفار المنية
The claws of death.

The claws point to an unstated predator and thereby make the image intelligible. This is not automatically ordinary reinforcement (tarshīḥ), where an already established metaphor is subsequently strengthened by a feature associated with its source.

If a brave person is explicitly called a “lion” and an additional feature of a lion follows, that feature may reinforce the metaphor. In “the claws of death,” however, no explicit “lion” or “predator” has been supplied. The claws themselves reveal the unspoken source. Indicating an absent source and reinforcing a stated borrowing are distinct operations.

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Implicit metaphor versus reinforcement

Implicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Competing Accounts and al-Sakkaki’s Definitions

أظفار المنية
The claws of death.

The claws point to an unstated predator and thereby make the image intelligible. This is not automatically ordinary reinforcement (tarshīḥ), where an already established metaphor is subsequently strengthened by a feature associated with its source.

If a brave person is explicitly called a “lion” and an additional feature of a lion follows, that feature may reinforce the metaphor. In “the claws of death,” however, no explicit “lion” or “predator” has been supplied. The claws themselves reveal the unspoken source. Indicating an absent source and reinforcing a stated borrowing are distinct operations.