From "yuso" to "bajo". The imposition of the body in the verticality

Abstract

The present work traces the historical process by which the old locative adverb yuso was replaced by the new forms abajo and debajo in Spanish. More than a simple lexical change, a whole atypical reconceptualization took place due to the peculiar semantic properties of bajo which determined the path of this change. Although Spanish differs from many American Indigenous and Asian languages in that body-parts are rarely used as sources for locative marking, the corporal dimension inherent in bajo enabled the adjective to establish relations on the vertical axis, which in turn made way for processes of extension that are at variance with the general principles of semantic change. The study shows how yuso and abajo /debajo converged in the expression of a general sense of "inferior region”, in spite of having very different origins. The emergence of the new forms did not follow a gradual homogeneous progression. Instead, after a long stable period dominated by yuso, (a)(de)bajo developed their locative uses in a series of unexpected and rapid changes, which culminated in the displacement of yuso and the rise of particular meanings shaped by the bodily configuration of the new forms.