Metaphor-based reinterpretation of specialised vocabulary in the media

Abstract This article investigates the metaphorisation of terminological vocabulary in contemporary German-language media discourse, drawing on a corpus of over 12,800 metaphorised terms from leading newspapers and magazines published in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland between 2020 and 2025. The study demonstrates that metaphor functions not merely as a stylistic device but as a powerful cognitive instrument for conceptualising political, economic, and sociocultural reality. The principal mechanism through which metaphorisation operates is determinologisation – the acquisition by terms of ne