Studia Językoznawcze

The article discusses the relation between the change of meaning and imaging. The example of word rozpacz (despair), which in Polish has numerous abstract connotations (initially mental and then emotional), shows that, regardless of contemporary meaning, the word used to form collocations based on the metaphor of CONTAINER (f.e. ktoś wpadł w rozpacz) or PATH and DESTINATION (f.e. ktoś/ coś doprowadza kogoś do rozpaczy). It proves that metaphorical models DOMAIN A TO DOMAIN B do not reflect the flexibility of definitions, therefore the list of such would have limited cognitive value in the field of historical semantics. It is more important to identify the feature which determines the level of similarity rather than finding the source domain of the metaphor. Such feature is likely to be decisive in terms of longevity of existence in variant liaisons (f.e. ktoś wpada w rozpacz/ ktoś idzie do rozpaczy) and it can influence the evolution of the definition. This mode of analysis requires the implementation of both conceptual level and semantic-syntactic aspect.