In a message dated 2/4/2005 5:00:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
danagro@kp.km.ua writes:
Dear All,
Do native speakers of English notice that SALT in the much quoted
example "Can you pass me the salt?" is itself a metonymy for a "container
with salt"?
and in case this sort of metonymy is not processed as an implicature, could
it be that conceptual metonymy in general is part of the "what is
said" - for example the target "I ask you to pass me the
salt" of the source metonymy "Can you pass me the salt?" is communicated as
an
explicature?
---- Well, English has (etymythological) 'salt-cellar' and 'salt shaker'. Interestingly, under 'salt', the OED has -- under '7.a' -- "= salt-cellar" (where '=' surely indicates metonymic expliciture). Quotes below. Cheers, JL J. L. Speranza ----1. 'salt'. 7. a. = SALT-CELLAR. 1493 in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 310 To John Wymer and Margarete his wif a cuppe and a salt of silver. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. VI. xxii. 212 Knyues spones & saltes [Bodl. MS. salers] ben sett on ye borde. 1531 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 47 Two Rownde saltes with a Couer. 1605 B. JONSON Volpone V. iii, One salt of agat. 1663 PEPYS Diary 29 Oct., Under every salt there was a bill of fare. 1775 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 199 Eight silver salts for the Corporation. 1821 SCOTT Kenilw. xxxii, Another salt was fashioned of silver, in form of a swan in full sail. 1894 Times 7 Apr. 9/5 A pair of hexagonal salts, of Limoges enamel. b. above (or below, beneath, under) the salt: at the upper (or lower) part of the table, i.e. among the more honoured (or less honoured) guests. The reference is to the formerly prevailing custom of placing a large salt-cellar in the middle of a dining table. 1597 BP. HALL Sat. II. vi, That he do, on no default, Euer presume to sit aboue the salt. 1599 B. JONSON Cynthia's Rev. II. ii. (1616) 200 Hee neuer drinkes below the salt. 1602 DEKKER Honest Wh. D, Set him beneath the salt and let him not touch a bit, till euery one has had his full cut. 1658 Wit Restor'd 43 Hee..humbly sate Below the Salt, and munch'd his Sprat. 1826 HONE Every-day Bk. I. 1333 The marshals were the lowest above the salt. 1870 LOWELL Study Wind. 347 At the banquet of fame they sit below the salt. 1885 J. PAYN Luck of Darrells xxxvii, Though of Tory sentiments, she by no means approved of those feudal times when the chaplain was placed below the salt.
2. 'salt-cellar' [f. SALT n.1 + SALER (which has been assimilated in spelling to CELLAR).] A small vessel used on the table for holding salt. 1434 E.E. Wills (1882) 102 A feir salt saler of peautre with a feyre knoppe. 1445 Will in Madox Formul. Anglic. (1702) 434 Duas Saltsellers Argenteas. 1483 Cath. Angl. 317/2 A Salte seler. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 269 Take thy salte seller in thy lefte hande. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 53 A salt celler for salt. 1633 WOTTON in Reliq. (1672) 464, I send you..a triangular Salt celler. 1669 WOODHEAD St. Teresa II. 269 A Sister..found at last a little Salt-celler in a Chest. 1729 SWIFT Direct. Serv. i. Wks. 1751 XIV. 23 Fold up the Table-cloth with the Salt in it, then shake the Salt out into the Salt-cellar to serve next Day. 1865 DICKENS Mut. Fr. III. iv, Putting down the glasses and salt-cellars as if she were knocking at the door. attrib. c1460 J. RUSSELL Bk. Nurture 60 Loke..y salte sellere lydde towche not thy salt by b. In phrases as in SALT n.1 7b. 1609 DEKKER Gull's Horn-bk. Wks. (Grosart) II. 244 You may giue any Iustice of peace, or yong Knight (if he sit but one degree towards the Equinoctiall of the Salt-seller) leaue to pay for the wine. 1645 MILTON Colast. 19 That which never yet afforded corn of savour to his noddle, the Salt-seller was not rubb'd. 1648 HERRICK Hesp., His Age vii, If we can meet, and so conferre, Both by a shining Salt-seller. 1843 JAMES Forest Days ix, We have no salt-cellar here, to make a distinction between highest and lowest. 1847 LYTTON Lucretia 32 This green banquet of nature, in which at least no man sits below the salt-cellar. c. colloq. Each of the pronounced hollows at the base of a thin neck. (Usu. with reference to young women.) 1870 O. LOGAN Before Footlights 26, I was a child of the most uninteresting age..a tall scraggy girl, with red elbows, and salt cellars at my collar-bones, which were always exposed, for fashion at that time made girls of this age uncover neck and arms. 1880 F. BELTON Random Recoll. Old Actor vi. 87 The bones of her elbows were painfully prominent, with enormous salt-cellar hollows in her neck. 1913 ‘O. ONIONS’ Story of Louie I. i. 25 The copper-haired girl with the long thin neck and the ‘salt-cellars’ showing through her white flannel blouse. 1913 Queen 17 May 35 (Advt.), ‘ Saltcellars’ and thinness of the neck and shoulders. 1964 P. WHITE Burnt Ones 162 She was so thin, but he loved her even for her salt-cellars. 3. 'salt-shaker'. 1895 *Salt shaker [see pepper shaker s.v. PEPPER n. 7]. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 543/3
Salt and *pepper shakers, made of crystal blown glass, extra large capacity, and well adapted for kitchen as well as table use. Specify salt or pepper when ordering. 1931 W. CATHER Shadows on Rock II. i. 50 His ragged jacket was as much too tight as the trousers were too loose, and this gave him the figure of a salt-shaker. 1977 B. ROUECHÉ Fago (1978) I. iv. 72, I..picked up the kitchen salt shaker and rubbed it clean.
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