Re: CHAT: Of high and noble things ...
| From: | Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, April 14, 2002, 19:47 |
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> Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 18:45:35 +0100
> From: Tim May <butsuri@...>
>
> [...] The link between "higher" and "better" or "more noble" is
> quite arbitrary when considered, but of course it could still be a
> universal for terrestrial languages.
Though theories may have changed since I read this, the explanation
used to be that psychologically, a high position is felt as one of
authority because young children have to look up (very literally) to
whoever is looking after them. And it is much harder to feel superior
to someone if they are physically looking down at you.
Anyway, since societies like to pretend that there's a link between
some quality --- nobility of ancestry, purity of thought, whatever ---
and who gets to run the show, the semantic transfer is quite natural.
Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)