In order to create the main palette, you need only three colors: red, yellow, blue. By mixing them, we get the so-called intermediate: green, orange and purple. What next? The farther, the more colors and shades, without which life is a black and white film. This is how it happens in the language: letters, sounds, syllables, words, phrases and, of course, phraseological units, without which life turns into a black and white silent movie. And English idioms are no exception.
Phraseology
What is phraseologism? There is such a high-rise building with many corridors and rooms called "Linguistics". We need to get there, knock on one of the auditoriums, quite large, called "phraseology". It is here that they are studying phraseological units - stable, expressive combinations of words that have a single holistic meaning and fulfill onesyntactic function.
As an example - phraseological units of the English language with translation: up one's sleeves - carelessly, carelessly, through the sleeves; in blooming he alth - “he althy, strong, blood with milk; every inch a king - real, whole, from head to toe and others.
English
Phraseology is a real treasure trove of any language, without exception. Phraseological units in the English language, which for centuries have absorbed the history of the people, their mentality, culture, way of life, and national characteristics, will help us to see this. They just help to identify the main sources of idioms. By origin, English phraseological units are divided into two groups: native English and borrowed ones. The latter, in turn, are divided into interlingual and intralingual. Here, borrowed idioms in a foreign language form are also distinguished into a special class.
From the above, the following four digits can be listed:
- original English idioms;
- borrowings from other languages;
- intralingual borrowings - phraseological units that came from American, Australian English;
- idioms borrowed in a foreign language.
And now in detail about each of the above items.
Original English idioms
This is a fairly large group. It can be said that a significant part of the phraseological composition of the English language. Within this typethe following subgroups can be distinguished: firstly, these are stable combinations associated with English realities. For example, to be born within the sound of Bow bells, which means “to be born in London”, and in literal translation it sounds like “to be born to the sound of the bell ringing of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow”. The fact is that this fairly well-known church is located in the very center of the capital of England.
Next - idioms that reflect the customs and traditions of the British. As an example, let's imagine such English phraseological units with translation: to cut somebody off with a shilling - to leave without an inheritance (if only one shilling was left as an inheritance, then this act was committed intentionally); to sit above (below) the s alt - to occupy a high (low) step in the social hierarchy (according to the old English custom, the s alt shaker was placed in the center of the table, and the guests were seated in accordance with their social position: the noble ones were at the upper end of the table, and the poor were behind bottom).
There were some English beliefs: have kissed the Blarney stone - to be a flattering person (according to legend, anyone who kisses a stone located in Blarney Castle in Ireland immediately becomes the owner of the gift of flattering speech).
Bible
The Bible and the great William Shakespeare left a huge phraseological heritage in the English language.
The number of "biblical phrases", or biblical phraseological phrases, is so great that listing them is a rather difficult task. To one of the most usedin modern English, the following expressions can be considered: to bear one's cross - carry your cross; to kill the fatted calf”- literally means to stab a fat calf (the story of the meeting of the prodigal son), that is, to welcome; to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind - sow the wind - reap a storm, cruelly pay for evil deeds; to sit under one's vine and fig-tree - literally translated means to sit under your vine and fig tree, which means to sit at home in peace and security, to be in your own home.
It should be mentioned here that many meanings of English phraseological units of biblical origin diverge from their book prototypes, which is explained by the rethinking of biblical stories over time, as well as the omission of some archaisms and a change in word order.
William Shakespeare
Another important layer is “Shakespearianism”, that is, set expressions associated with the works of Shakespeare. Their total number is over one hundred units. For example, midsummer madness - insanity (the play "Twelfth Night"); salad days - young and green, it's time for youthful inexperience (the play "Antony and Cleopatra"); to win golden opinions - cause universal admiration (the play "Henry IV") and many others.
Here there are also some deviations from the texts of the great playwright: rearrangement of words, shortening of a phrase, replacement of some words by others. However, there are examples when a particular word has long gone out of use, but has retained its original form, meaning inwithin Shakespeareanism. A vivid example of this is the turn from whose bourne no traveler returns - no one has yet returned from the kingdom of death, in which the archaism of bourne continues its life - a border, a limit.
English literature and history
English classical literature can be said to have made a huge contribution to the development of the phraseological system of the English language. Besides Shakespeare, writers such as Geoffrey Chausser, Alexander Pope, W alter Scott, John Milton, Charles Dickens and many others have enriched the English idiomatic fund. For example, to catch smb. red-handed (W alter Scott) - caught red-handed, captured at the crime scene; fall on evil days (John Milton) - black days, drag out a miserable existence, live in poverty; a bag of bones (Charles Dickens) - skin and bones, to be emaciated; man Friday (D. Defoe) - Friday; devoted servant.
In the same group, there is also a considerable number of phraseological units, which include the names of famous, prominent Englishmen: Hobson's choice - a choice involuntarily, a forced choice (Robson is the owner of a stable in Cambridge of the sixteenth century, obliging his customers to take only that the horse closest to the exit)
Borrowings
As mentioned above, there are a lot of borrowed phraseological units in the English language, and they can also be conditionally divided into subgroups. In the first place are steady turns, which once crossed the ocean from the USA and boldly set foot on the shores of Foggy Albion. These are the so-calledintralingual borrowings. As a rule, they are associated with works of art by American writers: the almighty dollar (V. Irving) - an ironic expression "almighty dollar"; the last hurrah (O'Connor) - swan song, last hurrah; the last of the Mohicans (F. Cooper) is from the category of "Russian-English phraseological units", as it has its own analogue in Russian - the last of the Mohicans, the last representative and others.
Then come ancient borrowings - phraseological units that got into English from the pages of ancient authors, as well as from the myths of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome: achiles 'heel - a weak spot, Achilles' heel; the apple of discord - the main cause of enmity or quarrel, the apple of discord; the golden age - a time of prosperity, rebirth, a golden age.
Further, in descending order are borrowings from French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Danish, Russian: appetite comes with eating (Francois Rabelais) – appetite comes with eating; blood and iron - a literal translation of "iron and blood" in the meaning of "ruthless use of force" (a characteristic of the principles of Bismarck's policy, which brutally suppressed opponents of the unification of German lands); tilt at windmills (Cervantes) - fight windmills; an ugly duckling (G. H. Andersen) - an ugly duckling, outwardly not attractive, but kind and sympathetic inside, outwardly not promising, but later opening from an unexpected side; the Sick Man of Europe - this statement can be classified as“Russian phraseological units in English”, and it means “sick man of Europe” (it is attributed to Nicholas I, who called Turkey that way).
