Identifying the Old English exponent of the semantic prime DIE

Resumen

This research takes the approach of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) model(Goddard 2002) which states that semantic primes are universal concepts that can be usedto describe complex meanings in terms of simpler ones. The NSM team has worked on theidentification of prime exponents in living languages; however, some authors have focusedon exponent identification in a historical language such as Old English (Martin Arista andMartin de la Rosa 2006, de la Cruz Cabanillas 2007). Recent research on this topic hasproposed a methodology that allows for the identification of primes by analysing candidatewords in terms of their morphological, textual, semantic and syntactic features (MateoMendaza 2013, 2021). Within this framework, the aim of this research is to identify the OldEnglish exponent of the semantic prime DIE. To do so, a full description of DIE in termsof the NSM model facilitates the selection of candidate words for prime exponent since,given the metaphorical implications of the verb under analysis (Ower 1996), the extensivelist of Old English verbs presented in the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary(Kay et al. 2009) expressing the meaning 'to die' can be reduced to the verbs sweltan, steorfan,cwelan and deadian. Following the methodology established in previous research, these verbsare examined by means of the information found in relevant sources such as The Dictionary ofOld English (Healey et al. 2018) and its corpus (Healey et at. 2009), and Nerthus database(www.nerthusproject.com). The analysis of the verbs against the four aforementioned criteriaselects sweltan as the most appropriate candidate for prime exponent. Nevertheless, since forsome criteria sweltan and other verbs show similar results, the search for examples withindifferent Old English texts of sweltan along with the adjuncts related to DIE confirms thesuitability of this verb as prime exponent.