с) Nominal Meaning
Words having nominal meanings are treated as proper nouns. In order to distinguish the word with a nominal meaning one must know that it is spelt by a capital letter. Such words as Longfellow, Black Sea, Smith have nominal meanings. The logical meaning from which the nominal meaning originated may in the course of time be forgotten.
Most proper names may be considered as homonyms of common nouns. For example: Miss Hope (hope), Mrs. Brown (brown), Miss Sweet (sweet), Browning (pistol).
It must be remembered that the nominal meaning will always be secondary to the logical meaning.
The process of development of meaning may go still further. A nominal meaning may assume a logical meaning due to certain circumstances. The result is that a logical meaning takes its origin in a nominal meaning. Some features of a person which have made him famous are recognized by the society and these features become the basis for the new logical meaning. E.g.: hooligan - is probably derived from the name of a rowdy family (the Irish name Houligan). The verb boycott was first used in 1880 to describe the action of the Land League towards Captain Boycott, an Irish landlord. The nominal meanings of these words have now faded away and we perceive only one, the logical meaning.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |
