Practitioner from Instrument: Metonymy in Names for Physicians in the History of English

Abstract

I focus here on several names for the physician in the history of English, which I suggest have metonymically evolved from names of medical instruments. I will first briefly discuss the importance of metonymy in semantic change, and indicate the theoretical background of my analysis (section 2). The lexical items will be reviewed, and their use in context exemplified (section 3). I will look into the reasons for metonymization, and make a case for pejoration, a downward move in evaluative attitude on the part of a speech community. To substantiate this claim, cultural arguments will be put forward, and the types of contexts which first made the meaning ‘physician’ accessible will be suggested (section 4).