Markers of metaphor “time is a valuable commodity”

Metaphorical perception of reality is a fundamental characteristic of human mind. We emphasize direct and indirect metaphorization - the first refers to the partial identification of two objects, the second attributes the characteristics of one object to another and thus likens the two. Various aspects of metaphorization can be described in terms of markers of conceptual metaphors which denote lexemes that refer to understanding of one kind of thing in terms of another. The metaphor «time is a valuable commodity» was widely represented in Russian linguoculture of 18th-19th centuries. In the article we consider 16 markers of the metaphor under study which reflect various aspects of perceiving time as a valuable resource. Some contexts show concurrent representation of different metaphors that structure the concept of time. It accents the syncretism of time perception and diversity of time representation.