Examining Conceptual-Orientational Metaphor in Makhzan al-Asrar

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 گروه زبان و ادبیات فارسی، واحد تبریز،دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی،تبریز-ایران

2 PhD Student of Persian Language and Literature, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad university, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

From the perspective of cognitive linguists, metaphors in language serve an aesthetic function, helping us understand and recognize abstract concepts through them. Therefore, they are tools that lead to the discovery of the speaker's thinking system, and how to think is learned through them. Conceptual metaphors comprise three main categories, of which Orientational metaphors have the highest frequency. The reason for this is the general public's familiarity with the concept of place. Mystical texts and those that contain mental and abstract concepts often require more metaphors, as metaphors help these concepts take on an objective form. Nizami is one of the poets who expressed his thoughts on ruling, philosophy, mysticism, and religion in metaphors in the Masnavi of Makhzan al-Asrar. He has prominently used directional metaphors to express and understand these ideas. The reason for this is the audience's easy understanding of the concept of place and the meaning of directions. In this research, prominent directions in the reservoir of secrets have been extracted, and the concepts expressed by the poet using spatial directions have been examined and analyzed. The result of the research is based on the fact that Nizami has expressed many mystical concepts by directional metaphors: self-abandonment, disconnection, worldliness, indifference, value, worthlessness, benefiting from the grace of truth, spirituality, materiality, and having mastery over the self and the world are among the concepts that are expressed using spatial metaphors.

Keywords

Interdisciplinary Studies of Persian Language and Literature
Volume 1, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
October 2024
Pages 16-28

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