Probleme stellen, Probleme lösen. Zur Metapher im Wortverzeichnis zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuche von Otto Gradenwitz

Abstract

To pose problems, to solve problems. The metaphors in the word list of the Civil Code by Otto Gradenwitz

The article refers to a dictionary list composed by Otto Gradenwitz and his team at the beginning of the twentieth century. The main topic of discussion is determinative compound nouns, one of the most productive types of compounds in the German legal language. The author analyzes the meta­phor-like compounds with respect to their potential, real, and contextual meaning. He attempts to answer the question about the role of the compositionality rule in determining the meaning of the aforementioned compounds, and the role of the pragmatic knowledge resulting from its use in a specific context.