Polysemy

The word polysemy means plurality of meanings. It exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic.

Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express. E.g. the word blanket has the following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping a horse warm, a covering of any kind (a blanket of snow), covering all or most cases (used attributively), e.g. we can say: a blanket insurance policy.

There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, e.g. most terms, such as synonym, molecule, bronchitis, some pronouns, such as this, my, both, numerals.

There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and conactenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meaning proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primary meaning. E.g. in the word face the primary meaning denotes the front part of a human head. Connected with the front position the meanings the front part of a building, the front part of a watch, the front part of a playing card were formed. Connected with the primary meaning of the word face the meanings expression of the face, outward appearance are formed.

In cases of conactenation secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. E.g. in the word crust the primary meaning hard outer part of bread developed a secondary meaning hard part of anything (a pie, a cake), then the meaning harder layer over soft snow was developed, then a sullen gloomy person, then impudence were developed. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. This phenomenon is called the split of polysemy.

In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic development are combined.