To answer the question «how new meanings develop» we must investigate the inner mechanism of this process. A necessary condition of any semantic change, no matter what the cause, is some connection, some association between the old meaning and the new. There are two kinds of association involved in different semantic changes: similarity of meanings and contiguity of meanings.
Similarity of meanings, or metaphor may be described as a semantic process of associating two referents, one of which in some way resembles the
other. In other words, metaphor is a transference of meaning on the basis of similarity, e.g.: the word hand got in the 16th century the meaning of a «pointer of a clock or a watch» because of the similarity of one of the functions performed by the hand.
The words denoting parts of human body are widely used metaphorically in different languages, e.g.: the leg of the table; the foot of the hill; the neck of a bottle; the tongue of the flame; the mouth of a pot, river, cave. In this case we create the figurative meaning of a word. Thus, we must differentiate between the primary meaning of a word and its derived meaning, that is the meaning which the word got in the language development.
If a metaphor is based on physical properties it is called a simple or linguistic metaphor. Simple metaphors can be classified according to the physical properties of the similarity on which they are based:
1. appearance or form: bridge - мост, переносица; nut - орех, голова;
arm - рука, ветка. A lean person may be called a skeleton, a tall and lean per
son is sometimes called a lamp-post;
2. temperature: boiling hot - кипяток, сердитый (горячий) человек;
3. position: the head and the foot of a page;
4. colour: the names of some flowers and shrubs are commonly used to
denote their colours: lilac - сирень, сиреневый; violet - фиалка, фиолето-
вый;
5. function of use: hand - рука, стрелка часов;
6. movement: caterpilar-tractor - гусеничный трактор; foxtrot - бег ли
сы, фокстрот (танец); albatros - альбатрос (птица), аэроплан.
Sometimes two or more of these kinds of resemblances are combined: the ear of a pitcher is something like a human ear in form, appearance and position, or the eye of a needle is similar to part of a human face in form and position.
In English there are many words and phrases in which the names of the animals are metaphorically used to denote human qualities, in this case we observe resemblance of qualities of animals and people, e.g.: a bear - a surly person; cat, sheep, snake, lion, monkey, parrot, goose, duck, etc. Horse is used as a kind of prefix to indicate size or coarseness: horse-laugh - a loud laugh; cf. Russian - ржание, horse-play - грубое развлечение, игра, horse-sense -грубоватый, здравый смысл. A few verbs belong to this class of animal names: to ape, to monkey - to imitate; to rat - to desert smb. in difficulty. There is a great many of idiomatic phrases containing the names of animals, insects, birds, etc.: it rains cats and dogs; to flog a dead horse; dog-cheap; to have a bee in one's bonnet.
Transference of meanings may be based on resemblance not only between two physical objects, but also a concrete object and an abstract notion,
e.g.: bar - барьер (a physical object); social bars - социальные барьеры; racial bars - расовые барьеры.
Contiguity of meaning, or metonymy may be described as the semantic process of associating two referents, one of which makes part of the other or is closely connected with it. In other words, metonymy is a transference of meanings on the basis of contiguity. Contiguity is a more complex phenomenon as compared with similarity and it may be of different kinds.
The word hand besides the meaning «pointer of a clock» (metaphor) also developed the meaning «worker». This meaning is based on another kind of association: hands are the most important feature that is required of a person engaged in physical labour (association of an object and the process). Another example: ABC - the alphabet (part of the whole).
The simplest case of metonymy is that of synecdoche. A synecdoche is a trope by which
1. a part is made to stand for the whole or
2. the whole for a part.
E.g.: grey-beard - an old man (cf. Russian - послушай, борода!); motor - motor-car; to save one's skin; bigwig - важное лицо, шишка.
The names of different animals are commonly used to mean their furs and sometimes - meat: fox, rabbit, hare, sable, tiger, etc. Names of different organs can be used metonymically: lend me your ears! - послушайте меня! head -голова, начальник; he has a good eye for old books - наметанный глаз; brain - мозг, голова (ум!).
Some other cases of metonymy:
1. the names of containers are used to denote things contained: the kettle is boiling; have another late (glass);
2. the names of the things contained are used instead of the containers:
school - for school-building; institute - for institute-building; university;
3. the names of places are used to denote what is going on in these places or people who are there: the whole chair was present; the whole city came to meet the hero; street; town; village;
4. the name of the material may be used instead of the product: brass - латунь, духовые инструменты, mahogany - красное дерево, мебель, iron - железо, утюг, silver - серебро, приборы (столовые), flax - лен, изделие из льна, nickel, glass;
5. the name of the author is used for his works: give me Byron, please;
6. the name of a passion is used for its object: My love.
Proper names are widely used metonymically; e.g. the names of the inventors are used instead of what they have invented: makintosh - a waterproof overcoat after Makintosh (1766-1843), Farenheit (прусский ученый, 1736 г.),
mauser - род оружия, Sandwich - имя лорда, Whatman - имя фабриканта, Sepp - имя конструктора, сконструировавшего дирижабль, Colt - имя конструктора, сконструировавшего револьвер, Pullman (1831-1897) - имя конструктора, создавшего определенный тип вагона пассажирского поезда.
Geographical names are used metonymically:
1. the names of countries are used to denote products manufactured there: china - porcelain; holland - a linen fabric; marocco - сафьян, bengal – сорт материала из Бенгалии;
2. names of cities and towns: rocquefort (деревня во Франции) - сыр, magnesia (древний город в Малой Азии) - лекарство, Bordeaux (город во Франции) - красное вино, havana - гаванские сигары, tangerine (город в Северной Африке) - мандарин, tokay (город в Венгрии) - вино токай, pambroke (город в Англии) - стол с двумя опускающимися сторонами;
3. names of islands: canary - l)light sweet wine, 2)a song bird found there; sardine - a small fish found in the Mediterranean Sea about the island of Sardinia;
4. names of mountains: cheviot - шевиот (ткань).
In all the above-mentioned cases the elements of contiguity are evident enough. All these cases of transference of meaning are called linguistic metonymy.
Both the processes, metaphor and metonymy, are closely connected, being different stages of the same semantic process, the result of the use of a word in different situations.