The Forgotten Metaphors in Surah Al-Mulk (A Semantic and Rhetorical Study)

Indeed, the words used by users of any language nowadays differ from what their ancestors used. Because they have changed literally and spiritually over time, it has changed their form occasionally. Metaphor is a process that changes the meaning of the words at first virtually; then, by spreading the metaphor and increasing its usage among people, its virtual meaning of life ends. Meanwhile, metaphor has no virtual meaning; it is full of truth and is called a dead metaphor. Therefore new words appear in the language that did not exist before. This situation reveals the hidden importance of the study of dead metaphors. Because these metaphors are essential for word development, this article intends to find the dead metaphors in Surah Al- Mulk with a descriptive-analytical method. Therefore it has extracted about twenty of them. And believes that their number is more than what is mentioned in this article. But discovering further cases needs other research.