It happens that when studying a book, we cannot understand the meaning of a word. If even one word from the context is not clear to us, then the text itself becomes completely unclear. The first thing we do when we discover ambiguity is to turn to dictionaries for help. For example, the dictionary of the Russian language S. Ozhegov I. or V. Dahl.
In addition, it often happens that even after reading the meaning of the term in the dictionary, the concept remains not completely understood. Therefore, you have to look for various explanations and examples of the use of the word on the Internet.
Here we analyze a term such as "metamorphosis."
Morphology of the term
The morphology of any term is an internal structure, that is, a prefix, root, ending, and so on. To know the etymology of a word, you need to look at its morphology.
The word "metamorphosis" is of Greek origin. Therefore, we need to turn to the Greek language. In dictionaries, it looks like this - μεταμορφωσις. Where the prefix meta is translated as “behind, after, after, between,” and the root — morphe — is translated as “species, form, structure, formation”. That is, the literal translation resembles something “after the form,” what arises after the form, some of its changes.
However, the etymology of the term "metamorphosis" is not fully understood.
The lexical meaning of the word metamorphosis
Many dictionaries say that metamorphosis is a certain change in existing forms, the transformation of one into another.
The word under study is used in two main meanings in the Russian literary and scientific languages:
- The direct meaning of the word. In this sense, the object receives new external properties and a new look, is radically changing. For example, in biology, this term refers to the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly or a leaf into a tendril.
- The significance of someone’s extraordinary change, that is, cardinal changes in the character or appearance for others. Used in relation to people. Here we have a figurative meaning.
The concept of metamorphosis in culture, philosophy, religion
In addition to general meanings, the word "metamorphosis" can be applied to the phenomena of culture, religion and philosophy.
In the world there are always many events and phenomena that are constantly changing and transforming from one to another. Metamorphosis is not the destruction of an object and the emergence of a new one, but a change that preserves the original existence. In this concept is a constant change of things and the preservation of a single being. Things are constantly changing, but are in unity with each other.
In a religious sense, metamorphosis acted as a transmigration of souls in Indian philosophy and mythology, Pythagoreanism, Neoplatonism and other teachings.
In Orthodoxy, the word "metamorphosis" is the Transfiguration of the Lord. The Lord has changed significantly, transformed by external and internal radiance.