# I'm Looking For A Linguistic Term **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243 "2021-05-16T22:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/1 "2021-05-16T22:32:31Z")
I was just thinking of Mark Anthony’s eulogy for Julius Caesar, in Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_. Mark Anthony talks about Caesar lying in his ‘coffin’. Neither in the play, nor in the records of the actual event, is there any mention of Caesar lying in a coffin, I think. Anyways, it got me to thinking. Sometimes words have come to be so commonly used, that they lose their original meaning. Take ‘going to the bathroom’. You can catch your dog ‘going to the bathroom’ on your lawn, even though your dog is plainly outside, and nowhere near an actual bathroom. What is the linguistic term for that phenomenon? I was just wondering. But I am sure that I am not the only one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/2 "2021-05-16T22:37:44Z")
Euphemism. ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/3 "2021-05-16T22:56:06Z")
[Metonymy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy)? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/4 "2021-05-17T06:35:56Z")
In that specific example, I would say it’s an anachronism, just like the sounding mechanical clock in the same play. Shakespeare is using the common term for his time for dealing with a dead body, without realizing that it’s not necessarily how the Romans conducted a funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/5 "2021-05-17T07:07:22Z")
Yup, metonymy, in the specific sense described by your link as “A physical item, place, or body part used to refer to a related concept”. So the physical place of the bathroom is used to refer to the related concept of urination or defecation, and the physical item of the coffin is used to refer to the related concept of death. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > n that specific example, I would say it’s an anachronism, just like the sounding mechanical clock in the same play. > > Shakespeare is using the common term for his time for dealing with a dead body, without realizing that it’s not necessarily how the Romans conducted a funeral. But according to the OP, Shakespeare doesn’t even have a physical coffin in the play. So he’s not so much “anachronizing” Roman burial customs as “metonymizing” the word “coffin” to imply death. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/6 "2021-05-17T07:26:53Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Shakespeare doesn’t even have a physical coffin in the play. I don’t think it’s that clear-cut. Stage directions in Shakespeare tend to be sparse. The direction here is: > [@](#): > > _Enter ANTONY and others, with CAESAR’s body_ There’s no mention of a bier, or a stretcher, or a coffin, or a cart, or anything about how the body is being brought along. Does that mean they’re just carrying the body in their arms, _Weekend at Bernie’s_ style? Or, does one rely on the text of Antony’s speech, where he says: > [@](#): > > My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and infer from that statement that they brought the body in a coffin? Link to Act III, scène ii: [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius\_caesar/julius\_caesar.3.2.html](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/julius_caesar.3.2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/7 "2021-05-17T07:58:29Z")
Here’s an even sparser stage direction, from _Richard III_: > [@](#): > > _Enter the corpse of KING HENRY the Sixth, Gentlemen with halberds to guard it; LADY ANNE being the mourner_ How is the corpse entering? There’s gentlemen with halberds guarding it, and Lady Anne in mourning, but no mention of how the corpse is entering. It can’t be the gentlemen, since they’re carrying halberds which are two-handed cumbersome weapons. Read literally, the stage direction says the corpse is coming in on its own power. But the dialogue makes it clear that there are people carrying the corpse: > [@](#): > > **LADY ANNE** Set down, set down your honourable load > … > > Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load, > … > > _Enter GLOUCESTER_ > > **GLOUCESTER** > > Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down. The dialogue also indicates that there’s a coffin: > [@](#): > > **Gloucester**. Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, I’ll make a corse of him that disobeys. > > **Gentleman**. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. The absence of modern detailed stage directions doesn’t mean there’s no coffin and no coffin-bearers. [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/richardiii.1.2.html](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/richardiii.1.2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/8 "2021-05-17T08:02:51Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > There’s no mention of a bier, or a stretcher, or a coffin, or a cart, or anything about how the body is being brought along. > > Does that mean they’re just carrying the body in their arms, _Weekend at Bernie’s_ style? > > Or, does one rely on the text of Antony’s speech, where he says: > > > [@](#): > > > > My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, > > and infer from that statement that they brought the body in a coffin? I don’t think those are the only two choices. The lack of reference to a bier or cart (or coffin) doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t one, and Antony’s reference to his heart being “in the coffin” doesn’t necessarily mean there was one. Certainly, the idea of a living person’s heart being in a dead friend’s coffin is metonymic rather than literal, whether or not there’s also an anachronism about the physical presence of a coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/9 "2021-05-17T08:11:56Z")
Right, the lack of reference to a coffin doesn’t mean there wasn’t one, so I think the OP is incorrect when he says that there was no coffin. But once we accept that the lack of a stage direction doesn’t mean no coffin, then the text of the speech is a pretty good indication that there is a coffin. Similarly, later on in the scene, Antony says “here is the will”, but there’s no stage direction for him to pull the will out of his pocket. That lack of a stage direction doesn’t mean there’s no will. When he starts to read, it’s clear that he has a physical piece of paper. We can rely on the speeches to tell us what’s going on, without the need for modern complex stage directions. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/10 "2021-05-17T10:28:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In that specific example, I would say it’s an anachronism, just like the sounding mechanical clock in the same play. > > Shakespeare is using the common term for his time for dealing with a dead body, without realizing that it’s not necessarily how the Romans conducted a funeral. Not anachronistic. Romans used coffins for burial. Cite: as an archaeologist I have dig in a Roman graveyard and recorded the iron stains that were all that were left of the coffin nails and thus the coffin itself. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/11 "2021-05-17T22:42:16Z")
Interesting. Thanks for that. I had an idea that the Romans relied more on cremation. So really, it’s just an ambiguous stage direction at the heart of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-linguistic-term/942243/12 "2021-05-17T23:27:30Z")
I just have to say that I love the Dope. All sorts of experts here.