What is a creation-as-birth metaphor?

What is a creation-as-birth metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which the making of a physical object or abstraction is represented as giving birth.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	Our nation was born out of a desire for freedom. His writings are products of his fertile imagination. His experiment spawned a host of new theories. Your actions will only breed violence. He hatched a clever scheme.

Generic
	A creation-as-birth metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for causation?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: creation-as-birth metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998