The Frisian Language Database as a Tool for Semantic Research

In this paper, the authors present two examples from the field of body parts, illustrating the level of details, very often with a diachronic component, that can be detected in the study of semantics. The bilingual background of Frisian - Dutch is in one way or another a second language in Friesland already since the late Middle Ages - constitutes an extra trigger in the organisation and restructuring of the lexemes and their meanings. The given examples from Google and the Frisian Language Data Base illustrate that a diachronic and comparative corpus based approach can add several aspects that have remained uncovered so far in the more traditionally conceptualised WFT. This enhanced picture of meanings and their developments are an essential prerequisite for gaining a deeper understanding of the organisation and structure of human semantic concepts and their operationalisation in human speech.