This paper studies the use of ātmán- in the R̥gveda and the Atharvaveda, and aims to show an ongoing semantic change through the period of composition and compilation of these texts. A cognitive and typological-functional approach is used here and all cases where ātmán- appears in the corpus have been analysed both grammatically and philologically. The results of this research show that ātmán- acquires new meanings and uses during the course of this process (‘being, ‘self’), without losing the previous ones (‘vital breath’, ‘breathe’). The systematisation of the different uses into a semantic map leads to the conclusion that: 1) the directionality of this semantic change is similar to that of equivalent words in other languages, and 2) this change is closely connected to that previously experienced by tanū́- ‘body, ‘self’. Thus, this research aims to provide specific evidence for cross-linguistic studies on grammaticalisation and the directionality of change.
Semantic change; Diachronic linguistics; Semantic maps; Vedic
