An Analysis of the Efficiency of the Theory of Coining Words for the Spirits of Meaning

One of the useful views regarding the expansibility of meaning in the Qur’an is rooted in the theory of “coining words for spirits of meaning”. This view originates in a gnostic principle based on which the vertical levels of the meanings of words have a single spirit that applies to all referents in the real sense of the word. Through expanding sensible and material concepts to meta-gnostic meanings, the advocates of the principle of the spirit of meaning maintain that the features originated in the referents of words cannot affect the real meaning because the signified objects of words are general. Accordingly, the truth of words can be applied to all levels of meaning from the level of hidden truth to a lower level which is comprehensible to all. The followers of this theory consider “expanded concept” to be a level of word meaning without rejecting the common understanding of the lexical meanings of words. In this paper, the writers have examined the defects of the theory of the spirit of meaning through an accurate analysis of its nature and extracting its principles from the various interpretations provided by its advocates. The disagreement with predicating predicate adjectives on metaphoric expressions, concentration on objective affairs in word semantics, and lack of attention to new linguistic views are among the most important defects of this theory.