The term 'metaphor', as the etymology of the word reveals, means transference of some quality from one object to another. From the times f ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, the term has been known to denote he transference of meaning from one word to another. It is still widely set to designate the process in which a word acquires a derivative meaning. Quintilian remarks: "It is due to the metaphor that each thing seems to have its name in language."