heart and soul as a locus of vision

Abstract This is a comparative analysis of the conceptualisation of the Ancient Greek nominal terms kardía and psuchḗ , meaning ‘heart’ and ‘soul’, respectively, in the argument structure of the verb horáō , meaning ‘see’. The terms are analysed for their entire diachrony until the end of Greek antiquity by the end of 6th c. AD. Methodologically, a multiple correspondence analysis is implemented over the coding of the semantic role of all slots within horáō ’s argument structure, along with other grammatical and conceptual features. A qualitative discussion follows, offering an explanation for the differential metaphorising potential of the two nouns, on the basis of the differences between soul and heart ’s materiality and alienability, which imply distinct prototypical schematisations defined as schematic profiles .