Semantic field
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The semantic field of a word is the sum of the sememes expressed by it.
Semantic fields of a given word shift over time, see semantic shift. For example, English man used to mean "human being" exclusively, while today it means "adult male" predominantly, but its semantic field still extends to generic "human" in some uses (see Mannaz).
Overlapping semantic fields are problematic especially in translation into another language. Particularly polysemous words are often untranslatable with all their connotations, and are frequently loaned instead. Eamples of this include chivalry (which would literally translate to "horsemanship"), dharma (which would literally translate to "support"), and taboo.
Further semantic shifts of loaned terms may lead to further complications. For example, Arabic islām has a generic meaning of "peaceful submission, piety". The term as loaned into English, Islam has a meaning strictly confined to the religion (deen) instigated by Muhammad, replacing the now deprecated term Mohammedanism. This state of affairs may lead to misunderstandings in discussions on the origin or nature of "Islam".
See also
- Semantic class
- Distinguishing "blue" from "green" in language for a canonical example
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