This work raises a preliminary hypothesis about the conceptual and cultural foundation that originated the semantic change of the term castigar as well as other related terms like castigo or castigamiento, all very frequent in medieval works. Two meanings for the same lexeme (to give advice vs. penalize or correct) coexisted during the period until the first one, to give advice, disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages. By analyzing the 13th century work Milagros de Nuestra Señora, written by Gonzalo de Berceo, this paper will argue that in addition to linguistic factors, the social and historical context of the time may have had some influence on the loss of the instructing meaning of this word.
This work raises a preliminary hypothesis about the conceptual and cultural foundation that originated the semantic change of the term castigar as well as other related terms like castigo or castigamiento, all very frequent in medieval works. Two meanings for the same lexeme (to give advice vs. penalize or correct) coexisted during the period until the first one, to give advice, disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages. By analyzing the 13th century work Milagros de Nuestra Señora, written by Gonzalo de Berceo, this paper will argue that in addition to linguistic factors, the social and historical context of the time may have had some influence on the loss of the instructing meaning of this word.