The history of the English words for love attests to changes in sentiments. This thesis focuses on Early Modern (ca 1500-1700) and Present-Day English (ca 1960‧'), asking whether people associated similar relationships with love in both periods and whether they used similar metaphors for love. The data comes from computerised collections of texts and from a historical thesaurus.
Love in society, love in the mind
The study suggests a way of examining the effects which changes in society exert on language. The theoretical toolkit contains two major instruments: the idea of linguistic prototypes and the theory of cognitive metaphors. Although these theories prove quite helpful, it is pointed out that they inspire more questions than they answer. The big question is what linguists know about the mind.
Is it all about body and commerce?
The study suggests that Present-Day English words for love are associated more often with sexuality and less often with duty or God than their Early Modern counterparts. This result is corroborated by the study of the cognitive metaphors occurring with the word LOVE. However, there are various kinds of love, all of which can be discussed in terms of metaphors. Moreover, while it has previously been emphasised that the metaphor LOVE IS A UNITY is at the centre of the concept of love, metaphors discussing love in terms of AN ECONOMIC EXCHANGE are the most frequent in the data.
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