The conceptualisation of anger in the Hebrew Bible

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is no scarcity of publications on the subject of anger in the Hebrew Bible. Most of these concernthemselves with the theological significance of the wrath of God. In particular, its function as chastisementfor sin is repeatedly accentuated while other conceptual elements as conveyed by Classical Hebrew wordsand expressions for anger are usually overlooked. In the majority of cases, lexicographical studies of angerterminology contend themselves with the accepted 'literal' meaning of words. The result is an impoverishedappreciation of the concepts that governed the mind of the ancient Israelites and determined their use oflanguage with respect to the conceptualisation of anger. This situation provided a good incentive for a studyon anger concepts in the Hebrew Bible.The cognitive theory of language proved to be an ideal tool for analyzing Classical Hebrew lexemesand expressions relating to the concept of anger. Several figurative sayings were identified that relate directlyto culturally defined concomitants of this emotion. They can be summarised in an idealised cognitive modelthat include the following conceptual metonymies for anger: body heat, quickened breathing, frowning,glaring, gnashing of teeth, internal pressure, redness in the face/neck, agitation, internal agitation, slaver atthe mouth, lifting the hand, clapping the hands, stamping the feet and violent, frustrated behaviour.Over and above these metonymies, a number of conceptual metaphors have been identified that addeda great deal of conceptual content to the idealised cognitive model of anger in the Hebrew Bible. The ANGERIS HEAT metaphor seems to have its basis in the experience of bodily heat. Environmental phenomena, suchas the hot desert wind, earthquake, clouds, storms and floods also proved to be prolific source domains formetaphoric transfer. Other conceptual domains employed by the ancient Israelites to image anger are:burdens, winepresses, poison, opponents, dangerous animals, transgression, presence and bounded spaces.The data analysed in this study pointed to a clearly defined conceptual model for anger that can best beviewed as a prototype scenario with several stages. The phases follow on each other in temporal order. Angertypically follows on the occurrence of an intended offending event. Although the ideal is to control anger, thisrarely happens. In the majority of cases, anger results in some violent act of retribution.In conclusion, several suggestions have been made with regard to the study of concepts, such as anger,in the Hebrew Bible. Firstly, the fact that most theological dictionaries and Hebrew lexicons to date havebeen dominated by the Autonomic View of language and its interest to identify the detachable 'meaning' ofClassical Hebrew terms needs to be acknowledged. In order to fully appreciate the idealised cognitive modelof the ancient Israelites with regard to a specific concept, a thorough diachronic study of related words andexpressions needs to be undertaken in view of their humoral theories and beliefs regarding magic and spirits.Finally, some recommendations relating to the etymology of certain Classical Hebrew terms for anger weremade.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University