174 Chapter 4 4.1 Introduction Metaphorical language is ubiquitous in hagiography. Travel-related terminology is likewise frequently metaphorical. The metaphorical usage of travel-related terminology may in fact exceed the non-metaphorical usage in many hagiographies.570 Therefore, analysing these metaphors is a promising approach for unravelling discourses on monastic (im)mobility. Moreover, cognitive linguistics has shown that language, and thus metaphor, is closely related to perception and thought. In other words, language reflects, structures, but also restricts human perception of the world and thinking.571 One of the ways in which to access perceptions and thought patterns of people in the past may therefore be through analysing patterns in language use.572 This chapter is informed by Conceptual Metaphor Theory and asks how an analysis of travel and stability metaphors might reveal underlying thought patterns about monastic mobility and immobility. The conceptual metaphorical analysis in this chapter brings a new approach to the study of saints’ Lives. It has rarely been applied to these texts.573 When it has, the focus has been on key-word searches in a large corpus.574 Analysing a large corpus has the advantage of being able to establish the prevalence of particular conceptual metaphors and to detect changes through time.575 The downside is that key-word searches will always miss out on related metaphors that use different lemmata. Language users, and particularly skilled authors, can use a plethora of words to express similar meanings, perhaps even more so when using metaphorical language. To maximise the benefits of this investigation, I analyse conceptual metaphors through close-reading of an entire narrative. The benefit of this approach is that it allows detecting the full range of metaphors used in a single narrative, 570 Mantova (2023), p. 231. 571 The exact nature of the connections between language, perception and thought is difficult to establish. However, a close connection between language and sensory perception of the world is supported by various studies in cognitive science that show e.g., that ‘sensory language activates perceptual systems’ in the brain. O’Meara et al. (2019), p. 2. Moreover, studies comparing different languages suggest how language may impact how one can express sensory perceptions, possibly both enabling and restricting thought, depending on the range of vocabulary or other linguistic features. See e.g., Majid and Burenhult (2014); Speed et al. (2019). 572 On a general level all research using textual sources relies on (written) language to uncover ideas of people in the past; however, here I mean specifically approaching particular aspects of language use, such as metaphors, and looking for patterns in the use of this language feature as a method of inquiry. 573 On conceptual metaphor theory see section 4.2. Within Byzantine Studies this theory has not found much application, but it has been explored more in the context of ancient classical literature. A study by Douglas Cairns on classical (metaphorical) conceptions of ψυχή and θυμός served as my direct inspiration for this approach. See Cairns (2014). 574 Mantova (2023). By the time Mantova’s study appeared, the core of the present chapter was already written, and was thus developed independently from Mantova’s study. I will indicate in the footnotes where our findings overlap, and where they differ. One of these differences is our methodological approach (key-search versus close reading). Another difference concerns the range of metaphors we examined. Some of the differences between our conclusions are the result of this difference in approach and range of metaphors studied. 575 Mantova chose to search for four lemmata signifying ‘road’ (ἡ ὁδός, ἡ πορεία, ἡ λεωφόρος and ἡ τρίβος); this enabled her to establish the prevalence and stability (in time) of the life is a journey/road metaphor over other metaphorical usages of these lemmata in Greek hagiography from the fourth to twelfth centuries. She also identified a change of metaphorical patterns between the road-metaphors used in the texts comprising the Old Testament compared to those in the New Testament. See Ibid.
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