A Study of the Concept of Dād (justice) in Six Stories of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh with a Cognitive Approach

Dād (justice) is one of the abstract concepts that is not tangible in the world outside the mind and thinkers have dealt with it from various perspectives throughout history. Ferdowsi paid special attention to justice and mentioned it as one of the most important and required attributes of the kings. From the perspective of cognitive linguists, the human mind, using the metaphor mechanism, understands the abstract concepts through objective concepts. For an abstract concept, several different source domains may be used. Physical experiences, physical environment, social and cultural environment, and personal and social background are among the factors involved in the diversity of metaphors. The current research is an attempt to investigate Ferdowsi’s views about justice by studying conceptual metaphors used in six stories of Shahnameh and to identify the factors influencing the diversity of the source domains by analyzing the relationship between metaphor and types of context. The results of the research indicate that, in Shahnameh, justice, depicted as a priceless object and everlasting wealth, is spread by the king among the people and in the world. Justice leads the kingdom and state towards order and development, and it is a guardian that keeps the realm of government safe, and like water, the progress and renewal of the world and the happiness of the people depends on it.

کلیدواژه ها:

Shahnameh ، Justice ، Cognitive Linguistics ، Conceptual Metaphor ، شاهنامه ، داد ، زبان شناسی شناختی ، استعاره مفهومی