Structural Metaphor at the Heart of Untranslatability in Ancient Chinese and Ancient Chinese Texts: A Preliminary Study of the Case of the Lexical Field of ‘Norm’

Abstract

The article is an initial complex study of the lexical field norm in Ancient Chinese with focus on the classical (Warring States) period. It attempts to bring together as many terms with the meaning ‘norm, standard, rule’ as possible, classify them according to their origin and conceptual background and describe them from various perspectives, including the etymological and metaphorical one. A brief comparative glimpse on the state of affairs in Ancient Greek and Latin is offered at the end of the text, and further directions of research are suggested.

Keywords

• Ancient Chinese
• lexicology
• lexical field
• normativity
• comparative study