From Etymology to Conceptual Metaphor Theory: Ancient Greek θνῄσκω ‘to die’ and the metaphor DEATH IS DEPARTURE in Indo-European

The paper proposes the integration of historical linguistics and cognitive semantics for the reconstruction of the semantic development of Ancient Greek θνῄσκω ‘to die’ and other Indo-European verbs, illustrating the complex interaction of several cognitive processes, such as metonymy, image schemas and metaphor – specifically, DEATH IS DEPARTURE – in shaping the meaning of these figurative items over time.