Flash presentation at a workshop for 'Scotland's National Collections and the Digital Humanities,' a knowledge-exchange project hosted at the University of Edinburgh. 14 Feb. 2014. http://www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk/archives-now/

1. Visualising metaphorical connections with the
Historical Thesaurus
Brian Aitken, University of Glasgow
Mapping Metaphor
with the Historical Thesaurus

2. Mapping Metaphor
with the Historical Thesaurus
Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus
Historical Thesaurus
• Large - 797,120 meanings
• Semantically organised – 236,400 conceptual
categories
• Historical, including date information for all senses
Mapping Metaphor
• Empirical investigation of foundations and nature
of metaphor over the history of English
• Provide a pathway into further research –
identifying metaphorical links between domains

3. Mapping Metaphor
with the Historical Thesaurus
Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus
Funded by the AHRC – Jan 2012-Dec 2014
PI: Wendy Anderson
CIs: Marc Alexander, Carole Hough, Christian Kay
RA: Ellen Bramwell
PhD student: Rachael Hamilton
Website & Visualisations Developer: Brian Aitken
Technician: Flora Edmonds
Project assistants and student volunteers

4. Mapping Metaphor
with the Historical Thesaurus
Historical Thesaurus of English
Level 1
The External World; The Mental World; The Social World
Level 2
26 major categories (e.g. Matter, Aesthetics, Leisure)
Level 3
354 categories (e.g. Liquid, Beauty, Sport)
Levels 4 – 12

12. www.glasgow.ac.uk/metaphor
http://blogs.arts.gla.ac.uk/metaphor/ Twitter: @MappingMetaphor
Mapping Metaphor
with the Historical Thesaurus
Image from Thomas Wright: An original theory or new hypothesis of the universe. London, 1750. Courtesy of University of Glasgow
Library, Special Collections.