metaphor

Where does the word "metaphor" come from? It comes from Greek metaphora, passing through French before entering English (1500s).

Metaphor’s story begins in Greek: metaphora meant “a transfer, a carrying over.” Literally a carrying over, from meta (over) and pherein (to carry). By 1500s, the word had taken hold in French as metaphore. Carried into French rhetorical vocabulary. It reached English by 1500s as metaphor. Settled as the word for a figure of speech applying a word to something it doesn't literally denote. Today, metaphor means a figure of speech describing something by comparing it to something else.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient metaphora "a transfer, a carrying over", literally a carrying over, from meta (over) and pherein (to carry).
2. Stage 2 · French · 1500s metaphore "a figure of speech comparing two things", carried into French rhetorical vocabulary.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s metaphor "a figure of speech applying a word to something not literally applicable", settled as the word for a figure of speech applying a word to something it doesn't literally denote.