A Study of Orientational Metaphor of Hayat Used in Quran Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Regarding the fact that quite a few quranic messages have been expressed implicitly, present study is an attempt to investigate the orientational metaphor denoted by the term Hayat in Quran based on the conceptual metaphor theory. In doing so, translated version of Makarem, Almizan and Nemuneh interpretations of Quran were used for gathering the data. The data were then analyzed. Regarding the orientational metaphors of the term Hayat, those of up, down and near were obtained but the orientational metaphor of far has not been used. The orientational metaphor of up demonstrated the concepts such as: good and blessing, and these attributed to God, where as the orientational metaphors of down demonstrated the concepts such as: weakness, abjectness, torment and disgrace. The orientational metaphor of near has been expressed with demonstrative noun Hazehi that collocated with Hayat: It is observed in some verses that demonstrate the meanness of this world, the insistency on this and the effects and outcome of our actions in this world. This study shows the efficiency of modern theory of metaphor in analyzing the language of Quran that leads to a better understanding, translation and interpretation of quranic concepts