Timeless wisdom or shifting meaning?

Abstract This study investigates the cross linguistic transmission and semantic development of death related proverbs in English, focusing on expressions with counterparts in Latin, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and cognitive semantic approaches, the analysis examines whether the metaphorical frameworks embedded in foreign originated proverbs are retained, partially shifted, or reinterpreted in English. A three level analytical scale is employed to assess degrees of semantic continuity between donor language proverbs and their English counterparts. A dataset of 44 death related proverbs was compiled from the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs and supplemented with etymological information. Contemporary usage was examined through corpus analysis of newspaper data from NexisUni , providing empirical evidence of how these proverbs function in modern discourse. The findings reveal patterns of metaphorical persistence and transformation, illustrating how linguistic borrowing and cultural exchange shape the evolution of figurative meaning. Beyond linguistic comparison, the study contributes to broader discussions of cultural transmission and metaphorical universality, showing how proverb adaptation reflects both shared cognitive structures and culture specific reinterpretations.