How often do you hear the phrases "hang up the nose", "take for the soul", "bring to clean water"? If you tried to understand them literally, you would fail. And if you try to change the words in these combinations or dilute them? It turns out some kind of nonsense.
Idiom - what is it? Examples of expressions can be found in this article. How are idioms related to phraseological units? Let's try to figure out what phraseologism and idiom are.
Phraseologism
Phraseological units are fixed phrases that carry a single meaning.
Figuratively, a phraseologism can be compared with a mechanism: it cannot "work" in a language if there is at least one "detail" - a word. Phraseologism cannot be taken apart, changed them and add something of your own.
So, idiom - what is it? And how does it relate to phraseology? First you need to clarify what phraseological units are.
Phraseological combinations
There are phraseological units that can be called the most free. Some words in such expressions "live their own lives", others can only exist next to the first.
Try itbreak the expression "bosom friend" into parts. How many epithets can you pick for the word "friend"? An infinite number: "beautiful", "wonderful", "kind", "real", etc. And the word "bosom"? Can you think of a replacement word for "friend"? You can’t, because this word has “grown” to him. Such expressions are called phraseological combinations.
Phraseological units
"Stronger" phraseological units. Here all the words in the composition are not free. If you change them, then the meaning or shade of meaning changes. For example, the idioms "to fall for the bait" and "to get into the net" differ in a couple of words and are similar in meaning. Only here the shade is different: "getting on the net" is worse than "taking the bait".
However, unity can be diluted with other words. For example, "I fell into your networks", "he fell into the networks of scammers".
And also unity has at least some imagery. We can imagine ourselves as fish suddenly caught in a net from which they cannot find their way out. Therefore, it is easy to grasp the meaning of such an expression.
Phraseological fusions
And the most "strict" types are idioms (phraseological fusions). They can only be memorized.
Try to see for yourself. Can you imagine a person who beats the thumbs? Or sharpens laces? We know that to beat the buckets is to mess around, and to sharpen the folly is to chat. And if you dropour knowledge and ponder the meaning of each word?
Can we create this image in our head? No, because these images could have been created a long time ago, when beating bucks and turning lasses were commonplace. And now no one is literally sharpening their hair and hitting their thumbs, so we can’t imagine it.
Professions are gone (you will learn about the origin of idioms later), and the expression swept through the centuries and took root in the language. An idiom is a phraseological unit that cannot be divided and diluted with other words. The words seem to be soldered together in one combination.
Comparison of idioms: white crow and black sheep
If you are learning English, translating idioms will often break the point. Every idiom has its equivalent in another language.
To the question "Idiom - what is it?" you can accurately answer - one of the realities of any language. To speak naturally in a foreign language, you need to know and feel these realities.
Russian and English idioms that have a similar meaning may differ in words in the composition. For example, the Russian idiom "white crow" means a person who is strikingly different from the rest of the mass. The idiom is metaphorical: crows are black, white is rare. Albinism makes the bird more vulnerable to predators. It turns out that the white crow is a rare, unusual, unique bird, but at the same time unhappy, vulnerable, alienated.
But in English there is an analogue of this idiom - black sheep (black sheep). The black sheep is called "not such,like everyone else", but at the same time wayward. These people are exceptional, but they also do not want to be in a team.
However, the English idiom "black sheep" is considered the equivalent of the Russian "white crow".
Comparison of the idioms "after rain on Thursday" and when pigs fly
An illustrative example of differences in reality is idioms that mean "in an uncertain future." In Russian they say "when the cancer whistles on the mountain" or sometimes they use the idiom "after rain on Thursday." In English, it is customary to say when pigs fly (when pigs fly in).
If an English idiom is metaphorical, it is impossible to understand Russian if you do not know its history. According to one version, a thief named Rak (surname - Rakochinsky) came to Odessa. At that time, the road in the Shkodova Gora area was used during the rainy season, and rains in the city are rare. Rakochinsky lost the argument and had to whistle on the mountain during the rain. It is believed that the expression was fixed precisely after this incident.
"After the rain on Thursday" is generally rooted in the history of Russia. Then paganism was spread. On Thursdays, people asked Perun for rain. Since the rains did not appear, the expression with this meaning was strengthened.
The origin of Russian idioms
The etymology of these combinations refers to history, culture and public life. At the Russian language lessons, they tell a little about this and as additional information. Actually,if such information is presented correctly and interestingly, it can increase the motivation to learn not only the native and foreign languages, but also other subjects.
The origin of idioms in different languages usually arouses interest not only among schoolchildren, but also among adults. Consider a few Russian idioms and their origins:
- "Pull the wire". Gimp - a thin thread of metal. It was used for embroidery. To make this thread, you need a lot of time: the work is long, tedious and painstaking. And although now the idiom has the meaning "to do something boring" and even "to mess around", then it was associated with hard work that required strength and attention.
- "To beat the thumbs". It is believed that baklushi are wood blanks that were prepared for subsequent cutting of wooden products. Even a child could cope with this work, so it was considered easy. Phraseologism means "to do light work, to mess around."
- "Seven spans in the forehead". So they say about a smart and capable person. The idiom came from the Slavs, who used the span system. Seven spans were equated to 1 m 25 cm - a 12-year-old child reached such a height. At this age, children mastered the craft and became full-fledged members of society. You could call it coming of age.
- "Bullshit" or "lie like a gray gelding" - expressions come from the 18th century. The people called gray mares and geldings old people. The old people weredisabled, could not give birth to children, so they spent their lives chattering. This is how a phraseologism appeared, which meant "saying something meaningless", "talking in vain".
- "No fluff or feather". This idiom used to be a spell to ward off evil spirits. Feather is a bird, fluff is an animal. If you wish "down and feather", then the spirits will get angry and spoil the hunt. And when they hear that the hunt will be unsuccessful anyway, they will leave.
One thing to remember when learning idioms is that it's important and interesting. By studying the idioms of your native and foreign languages, comparing them, you enrich your vocabulary, increase cultural competence.
