The word Metaphor comes from the Greek meta (beyond) and pherein (carry or transport). Consequently, it is the going beyond; that is, to transfer a meaning from one field to another. The metaphor consists of transferring the meaning of an image to a figurative one with tacit comparison and similar morphology.
From its beginnings, the concept of metaphor has been presented, therefore, as the adequate instrument to go beyond the limits imposed by the literal form of language. The term metaphor manifests by itself the fundamental capacity of the mind to express relationships that transcend direct or habitual meaning, and allows us to overcome the simple meaning / signifier adequacy and build abstract worlds.
In linguistics, metaphor is an expression mechanism in which a word or group of words go from its own semantic context to be used with another meaning, without there being a direct comparison between the element it designates and the designated element: symbolic transfer.
The two elements related to each other, are similar in some quality (physical aspects, relationships, prepositions, etc.), what is in one can be discovered in the other. Possibly these elements compared have little in common, but familiarity with one of them allows a better understanding of the other. For example; "That boy is an airplane", this expression means that the boy is very agile in mind (he could not be an airplane).
The metaphor is characteristic in poetry, it can be found in any writing except in purely scientific or mathematical material. Metaphors can cause compression problems for those readers who are not aware of this means of conveying meaning.
In the field of psychology, specifically psychoanalysis, metaphor is associated with the process of identification. When listening to someone, the subject absorbs and incorporates the other's word.
