The measure of lexical proximity : the case of EXORCISE BOG(E)Y

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All the same, the Treasury letter was a pleasant reminder of the esteem in which he was held. To meet authority at its most impersonal level had been a new experience for him, and he had felt a certain interested speculation in how far his deep convictions would carry him against the world of Kafka’s ‘they’. And now that little bogy had been exorcized with the rest!
(Angus Wilson, Hemlock and After, Penguin ed., pp. 9-10 ; French tr. by Marie Tadié (1954), La ciguë et après, Robert Laffont, 10-18, domaine étranger, p. 8 : Et voilà que ce petit croquemitaine-là avait été exorcisé comme les autres !)

Fig1: BOGEY in defidic

IDNUM= 47255 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n S/STYLE= sl Br INDICATOR= in nose TRANS= crotte {coll} {f} de nez ORIGIN= efm	IDNUM= 47256 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n LABELS= golf INDICATOR= in golf TRANS= bogey {m}, bogée {m} ORIGIN= efm	IDNUM= 47257 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n INDICATOR= to frighten people + frightening TRANS= épouvantail {m}, démon {m} ORIGIN= efm
IDNUM= 47258 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n INDICATOR= evil spirit TRANS= croquemitaine {m} ORIGIN= ohef	IDNUM= 47259 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n INDICATOR= imagined fear TRANS= spectre {m} ORIGIN= ohef	IDNUM= 47260 HEADWORD= bogey LEMMA= bogey LEMMATYPE= standard POS= n INDICATOR= bugbear TRANS= bête noire ORIGIN= rcef

Fig. 2: EXORCIZE in defidic

From Oxford-Hachette : IDNUM= 92101 HEADWORD= exorcize LEMMA= exorcize LEMMATYPE= standard POS= vtr POSTCOLL= demon, memory, past TRANS= exorciser ORIGIN= ohef

From Robert-Collins : IDNUM= 92098 HEADWORD= exorcise LEMMA= exorcise LEMMATYPE= standard POS= vtr TRANS= exorciser ORIGIN= rcef

Results from LEXDIS

(queries yielding 0 weight are left out)

QUERY: [demon, n, spirit, n, w:none, m:g, adjust]

demon with POS=n is related to spirit with POS=n with weight=39 as follows: Shared Labels: [my] -> weight: 4

Shared words in definition: [considered, spirit, supernatural, force, activity, believed, peoples, energy] -> weight: 44

Cooccurence in Roget's thesaurus -> weight: 1

Penalty for Heavy Lexical Items -> neg_weight: - 10

QUERY: [demon, n, bugbear, n, w:none, m:g, adjust]

demon with POS=n is related to bugbear with POS=n with weight=1 as follows: Shared words in definition: [monster] -> weight: 2

Penalty for Heavy Lexical Items -> neg_weight: - 1

QUERY: [memory, n, spirit, n, w:none, m:g, adjust]

memory with POS=n is related to spirit with POS=n with weight=6 as follows: Shared words in definition: [ideas, thoughts, died, power] -> weight: 12

Shared words in examples: [good, last] -> weight: 2

Cooccurence in R/C-Oxf/Hach extended lemma db -> weight: 3

Penalty for Heavy Lexical Items -> neg_weight: - 11

=>

Demon	Nose	0
Demon	Spirit	39
Demon	Golf	0
Demon	Frightening	0
Demon	Fear	0
Demon	Bugbear	1
Memory	Nose	0
Memory	Spirit	6
Memory	Golf	0
Memory	Frightening	0
Memory	Fear	0
Memory	Bugbear	0
Past	Nose	0
Past	Spirit	0
Past	Golf	0
Past	Frightening	0
Past	Fear	0
Past	Bugbear	0

BOG(E)Y translated as :

Spirit	45	Croquemitaine
Fear	0	Spectre
Nose	0	Crotte de nez
Golf	0	Bogée
Frightening	0	Épouvantail
Bugbear	1	Bête noire

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