7.1. A Definition of Metonymy: X for Y

Metonymy (mi-TAHN-i-mee) is the use of an entity for something associated with it: X for Y.

When we talk about “Hollywood,” we are usually talking about the film industry associated with the city and not the city itself. The city becomes a kind of shorthand for the large and complex industry. If we are reading Shakespeare, we are reading the works written by Shakespeare. If we drive a Ford, we are driving a car made by the Ford Motor Company.

In each of these cases, we are not using the word in a completely literal way. We are using one entity to provide access to another associated with it. This is a regular feature of ordinary language with many, many examples. We can analyze it as follows: “X             for Y           .”

The easiest example of metonymy is the part for the whole. In the Bible, body parts are often used for the whole person. Ps 71:8 says, “My mouth is filled with your praise.” Here “mouth” stands for the whole person; the psalmist is saying that “I” am praising God with my whole being, not just with my mouth. Since “my mouth” sings the praise, the psalmist focuses on the mouth; the choice of “mouth” is not arbitrary. If the psalmist had said, “My hand is filled with your praise,” we would have to ask what that might mean—if anything.

The Greeks gave this use of the part for the whole its own name: synecdoche. Still, it is a subcategory of metonymy, another Greek term. The double “y” makes this word strange and seemingly difficult to grasp, but it names a common feature of speech. A piece of metonymy is a metonym.

In addition to part for the whole, Lakoff and Johnson give the following typical categories of metonymy (Metaphors, ch. 8):

• the producer for the product: He bought a Ford.
• objects used for the user: The buses are on strike.
• the controller for the controlled: Napoleon lost at Waterloo.
• the institution for the people responsible: The Army wants to reinstitute the draft.
• the place for the institution: Wall Street is in a panic.
• the place for the event: Remember the Alamo.

In each case, the metonymy invites us to see not just the piece but something associated with it from the same cognitive domain.

7.2. The Importance of Metonymy

Metonymy adds to the power of poetry in at least four ways.

1. Metonymy gives the audience access to the larger cognitive domain.
2. Metonymy allows the speaker to draw our attention to some particular feature(s). Typically, the choice is not arbitrary, and we should ask why our attention has been focused on this particular part. What nuance or emphasis does the metonymy bring?
3. Metonymy often serves parallelism by moving from the general to the specific, from the whole to a more specific and concrete part, or vice versa. Following Kugel, we should ask what the significance of the second piece might be.
4. Metonymy provides another way of achieving defamiliarization by making us ask just what the language evokes.

7.3. Some Examples of Metonymy in the Bible

Metonymy pervades the Bible. The “Red Sea” connects us to the larger and more crucial event at that place and to its story. Of course, anyone unfamiliar with those events will not make the connections.

In the theology of Zion, God sits unseen on the cherubim throne in the Holy of Holies within the Temple like a king. The cherubim throne with the ark as its footstool becomes a metonym (MET-uh-nim) for God’s royal presence. In the Deuteronomistic tradition, the temple becomes “a house for the name of the LORD” (1 Kgs 8:17). Here “the name” becomes a metonym for the person of God, just as many people see their name as a special manifestation of their person. The Priestly tradition identifies the divine presence in the temple with God’s glory (2 Chr 7:1). In both cases, the metonymy of name and glory moves away from the anthropomorphic (human-like) theology of Zion to a more transcendent understanding of God.

Jacob, the son of Isaac, receives the name of Israel, meaning “one who strives with God,” after wrestling the whole night with the “man” (Gen 33:22-32); the new name connects Jacob to the event. Both names become metonyms for his descendants as a whole. Later, they become the names for the divided kingdom: Israel for the northern kingdom and Judah, the tribe from which David came, for the southern kingdom.

The Bible often evokes covenant by referring to its stipulations or laws, as in Ps 78:10.

They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.

Likewise, “covenant” is paired with its hallmark virtues: steadfast love and faithfulness, as in Ps 25:10:

All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Lifting up or stretching out hands was the typical gesture of prayer, as we see in Ps 141:2.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.

In Isa 1:15, the prophet uses “outstretched hands” for “prayer.”

When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.

“Blood” typically stands for life, which belongs to God and so is holy. Therefore, touching blood makes a person “impure” because they have transgressed into the realm of the divine. Here “hands full of blood” suggests not just touching but immersion and so violence against others. “Hands” stands for the whole person but focuses on the part that brings about the violence, just as “eyes” stand for God’s assent.

In his Codex (c. 1800 BC), King Hammurabi says that he will ensure justice for “the orphan and the widow” (Epilogue, 26). While this pair has a literal meaning, they are also a metonym for all who have no public voice, and Deuteronomy adds to them the alien because Israel was once a slave in Egypt (Deut 24:19-22).

In both Isaiah 2:4cd and Micah 4:3, we read:

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.

Swords and spears recall war and death, while plowshares and pruning hooks conjure up agriculture, fertility, and peace. The concreteness of the images and their transformation makes this couplet so vivid and memorable that many who do not read the Bible know this verse.

At times, an entity may function both literally and metonymically. Take Ps 8:8-9, for instance.

All sheep and oxen,
even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.

“All sheep and oxen” have a literal meaning, but they also represent small and large animals. They also represent tame animals as distinct from the wild animals of the field in the second line. They are all land animals as opposed to the air and water animals of the third line, and all of the animals of the first three lines are what we can see as opposed to what we cannot see beneath the sea in the last line. These four lines demonstrate a highly refined ability to organize the world. We must not underestimate the ability of biblical poets.

As this brief overview shows, metonymy pervades the Bible, just as it pervades our ordinary speech.

7.4 Exercises for Chapter 7 on Metonymy

Vocabulary

• metonym (MET-uh-nim): a piece of metonymy. §7.1
• metonymy (mi-TAHN-i-mee): the use of an entity for something associated with it: X for Y. The part for the whole is the easiest example: “My mouth is filled with your praise” (Ps 71:8): X: mouth for Y: the whole person. §7.1
• synecdoche (si-NEK-doh-key): a subcategory of metonymy which names a part used for the whole. §7.1

Questions

1. Identify three examples of metonymy in our daily language.

2. Identify the metonymy in the verses below. Put a word or phrase from the text on the X line and what it connects to by association on the Y line.

Example:
Give ear, O LORD,  to my prayer. (Ps 86:6)

X            ear            for            hearing           

X                                                      for Y                                                     

1. On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
   the LORD loves the gates of Zion
   more than all the dwellings of Jacob. (Ps 87:1)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

2. But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;
   your name endures to all generations. (Ps 102:12)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

3. “Deliver me, O LORD,
   from lying lips,
   from a deceitful tongue.” (Ps 120:2)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

4. Rescue me from the cruel sword,
   and deliver me from the hand of aliens,
   whose mouths speak lies,
   and whose right hands are false. (Ps 144:11)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

5. Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;
   all who see them will shake with horror. (Ps 64:8)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

6. In Judah God is know,
   his name is great in Israel. (Ps 76:1)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

7. For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from him comes my salvation. (Ps 62:1)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

8. I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
   in the company of the upright, in the congregation. ( Ps 111:1)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

9. Praise is due to you,
   O God, in Zion;
   and to you shall vows be performed,
   2 O you who answer prayer!
   To you all flesh shall come. (Ps 65:1-2)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

10. that today you would listen to his voice.
    Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness… (Ps 95:7b-8)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

11. You turn us back to dust,
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” (Ps 90:3)

X                                                      for Y                                                     

12. Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
    and chiefs of the house of Israel,
    who abhor justice
    and pervert all equity,
    who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with wrong! (Mic 3:9-10)

X                                                      for Y