A Survey of the Orientational Metaphors in Qur an: ‎a Cognitive Approach

An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which concepts are ‎spatially related to each other, as in the following ways: up or down, ‎in or out, front or back, on or off, deep or shallow, central or ‎peripheral. Such metaphorical orientations are not arbitrary. They ‎originate from our physical and cultural experience. An orientational ‎metaphor organizes a group or system of metaphorical concepts in ‎terms associated with spatial orientation, for instance “up-down” and ‎‎“front-back”. An example would be the fact that many metaphorical ‎concepts concerning happiness (e.g. “feeling up”, “spirits were ‎boosted”, “in high spirits”) have to do with the spatial orientation of ‎‎“up”, whereas many metaphorical concepts of unhappiness (e.g. ‎‎“feeling low”, “feeling down”, “sinking spirits”, “falling into ‎depression”) have to do with “down”. These spatial orientational ‎metaphors are so common that we often use them unconsciously. ‎Those metaphors using the spatial orientation of “up”, “forward” and ‎‎“on” seem to be associated with positive feelings and events, while ‎terms such as “down” and “back” are associated with the ‎negative. The majority of spatial orientational metaphors employed in ‎the Qur’an can be divided into those that convey a positive experience ‎or feeling and those that express a negative or less satisfactory event ‎or emotion.‎