Resumen de Old English simile: when like was an adjective
This paper provides a comprehensive account of Old English similes of equality with the adjectival comparison marker gelic in the positive degree and its variants. It briefly traces the history of copulative gelic which was formed as a result of grammaticalisation during the pre-English period. The focus of the study is the structural, semantic and chronological peculiarities of Old English similes with the gelic component. To demonstrate this, the constructions under discussion are divided into twelve structural patterns, displaying the specifics of their number and the positioning of their elements. Further they are studied from a chronological point of view, the outcome of which gives grounds to trace their gradual distancing from metaphors. A scrutiny of their semantics reveals issues of particular importance for the Anglo-Saxon society
