Metonymy is something without which our language will lose its expressiveness

The expressive means of language are widely used not only in poetic texts, but also in prose. Many of them have firmly entered our everyday life, from the category of explicit ones have passed into hidden metaphors, personifications and so on. One of the most interesting language phenomena is metonymy.

Definition and examples

The origin of tropes is based on associative links of objects, phenomena, properties, qualities. By the same principle, metonymy was formed. The term originates from the Greek language and means "renaming". That is, metonymy is a replacement, substitution, use of one thing or phenomenon in place of another. For example, Pushkin is called the Sun of Russian poetry, recognizing his great role in art and literature. This comparison has grown so much in our minds with the image of the poet that when we hear or read these words, we automatically understand who we are talking about. Or, when pronouncing "Hollywood", we mean not so much a geographical object as the famous American "Star Factory".

It is clear that metonymy is the use of words or word combinations in a figurative sense. The roots of this phenomenon lie in the deep past of mankind. At the dawn of his childhood (also metonymy), the ancient man believed that his life depended entirely on evil and good forces. Trying to deceive evil spirits, he gave double names to himself and children - one is real, and it was kept secret, and another - deceptive, and it could be pronounced loudly. Thus, all those who could harm the child were deceived, and the people themselves, from their point of view, were safe. Hence, initially metonymy is a kind of amulet, taboo, secret knowledge about the true essence of things and its careful concealment.

The replacement of the names of certain phenomena by others close to them has firmly entered the consciousness and the language practice of all subsequent generations of human society. So, in the Middle Ages they were afraid to pronounce the main name of the devil and replaced him with others: unclean, horned, devil. That is, metonymy is the replacement of the names of certain concepts by the names of others, similar to the first.

Metonymy around us

The first examples of metonymy in speech, like the term itself, were given to us by the Greeks and taken from Greek culture. Homer became its avatar. And therefore, when we hear: "I am going to a country praised by Homer," it is clear that we are talking about Greece. Here it is, a clear example of metonymy!

Metonymy, as a vivid figurative language tool, is distributed in the widest possible way. It builds many phraseological units, proverbs and sayings, aphorisms. A modern native speaker can not hear anything about the real Croesus, the king of Lydia, about his enormous wealth. But he heard the expression "rich as Creuse," he knows what it means, and successfully uses it to place in his speech. Or, Moscow. It is often called the "first capital", using this word as the city's middle name. A hundred-dollar bill is called "Franklin" according to the president depicted on it.

Like every expressive means, metonymy enriches our speech, makes it more vivid, emotionally saturated, imaginative. It is widely used in the media, journalism and many areas of activity that are associated with the impact on human consciousness. So metonymy in advertising can be presented in the form of talking slogans.

Summary

Like any art trail, metonymy is designed to give our language imagery, poetry, expressiveness, beauty. Its quality is determined by the accuracy of the transmission of desired thoughts and images.