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At some point I found that 手を貸す both literally and figuratively means 'to lend
a hand' - is the resemblance a coincidence?
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2015-06-20T23:37:40.727
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2015-06-21T02:32:41.663
9971
question
words etymology
手を貸す and 'lend a hand' - coincidence?
There are a lot of metaphors in common around the world. This is a good
example of one such metaphor - the extension is quite logical (give help >
give a hand (to help) > lend a hand), and it wouldn't surprise me to find many
more examples of similar metaphors around the world.

There are others that are less common, such as Japanese's 猫をかぶる - the idea of
'cat' isn't cross-culturally connected with 'niceness', so the metaphor is
relatively unique. (Compare English 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' for the same
idea.)

A good place to start reading about these, if you're interested, is Lakoff and
Johnson's famous _Metaphors We Live By_ , a good introduction to the roles and
mechanics of metaphors in language and culture.
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2015-06-21T01:37:50.677
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2015-06-21T02:32:41.663
2015-06-21T02:32:41.663
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