Lexicology exam Supplementary Material

52. The Sources of Set Expressions.

1. Native English: they are clearly connected with traditions, historic events, rites, professional spheres (terminology)

a black sheep – black sheep were considered to be stamped by the devil;

a blue stocking; carry coals to Newcastle (ехать в Тулу со своим самоваром)

to jump the gun – to run before the signal; come up to the scratch (sports)

2) Borrowings from other languages: French (appetite comes with eating; after us the deluge), German (blood & iron- Bismark); Spanish (blue blood; tilt at windmills; the fifth column); American (to bark up the wrong tree- напасть на ложный след; to do one’s level best- не щадить сил, делать всё возможное; to face the music)

Many are borrowed from Latin & French & retain the same phonetic shape (enfant terrible - ужасный ребенок (избалованный, капризный, озорной, непоседливый; в переносном смысле: человек, доставляющий массу проблем; предмет всеобщей тревоги и беспокойства человек, ставящий других в неловкое положение; per capita – на душу населения; viva – устн. экзамен)

3) the Bible. –very numerous & fully assimilated (to cast pearls before swine; from the bottom of one’s heart)

For centuries The Bible remained one of the most readable & often cited books in England. According to Smith the number of phrases & expressions that came into English through the Bible (from the translations of it) is so great that to collect & register them all would be a very difficult task.

Biblical equivalents of some of these phrases are used in the Russian language as well.

at the eleventh hour — в последнюю минуту, в самый последний момент; beat swords into plough-shares — перековать мечи на орала, перейти к мирному труду; can the leopard change his spots? — „разве может барс сменить свою пятнистую шкуру?" (ср. горбатого могила исправит); cast pearls before swine — метать бисер перед свиньями; filthy lucre — презренный металл, деньги; in the twinkling of an eye — в мгновение ока; new wine in old bottles — новое вино в старых мехах, новое содержание в старой форме; the olive branch —оливковая ветвь (символ мира и успокоения); the root of all evil —корень зла; to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind — посеять ветер и пожать бурю; a wolf in sheep's clothing — волк в овечьей шкуре, etc.

Phraseological units of the biblical origin often differ from their original prototype. The main types of the differences are as follows

a). Some expressions used in the Bible in their literal meaning now are used in the idiomatic one (to cast the 1^st stone at sb; daily bread; kill the fatted calf (в притче о блудном сыне) закласть упитанного тельца". - угостить лучшим, что есть дома. ~A millstone about (a)round smb.'s neck — тяжелая ответствен­ность; камень на шее.

b). A variant of the biblical prototype becomes a set-expression instead of the original phrase. ~live on the fat of the land — жить в роскоши, жить припеваючи (ср. кататься как сыр в масле) ousted “eat the fat of the land ‘.

c). The components of the phrase are used in the Bible but do not form a set phrase.

~loaves and fishes (земные блага). [Loaves — хлебы и fishes — рыбы употребляются в еван­гельском предании о том, как Христос накормил пятью хлебами и двумя рыбами сотни людей, собравшихся слу­шать его. In the Bible we find the word 'loaves' and the word 'fishes', but not the word combination 'loaves and fishes']

d). Some phraseological units originate from the biblical plot - a doubting Thomas — Фома неверный (или неверующий;)forbidden fruit — запретный плод, also the proverb 'а forbidden fruit is sweet (sweetest)' the set phrase 'a fly in the ointment' have some connection with the biblical plot.

e). In modern English they can be sometimes violated orused as a derivational base: the land of promise – the promised land; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the voice in the wilderness

5) Shakespeare. There’s hardly anyone who goes through the day without quoting Shakespeare. When you call a man a rotten apple & a blinking idiot, when you proclaim him a man of few words, when you speak of cold comfort, grim necessity “suiting” the words to the actions, when you refer to your salad days, when you deplore the beginning of the end, when you use such expressions as poor but honest; in a word; second to none; this is a horse of another colour; what is done is done; when you say it’s Greek to me or it’s mad world, when you complain that you haven’t slept a wink or that your family is eating you out of house & home or you’ve seen better days, when you nod wisely & say love is blind or truth will come to light you are borrowing your bon mot from the bard & without him we would be bunted & the English language would have a lean & hungry look. (Guy Wright: “Thank you, Shakespeare.”)

According to the number of set-expressions that enriched the E.language Shakespeare comes second after the Bible. There are more than a 100 of them.

In modern English set-expressions created by Shakespeare can undergo some changes.

E.g. at one fell swoop ("Macbeth") —одним ударом, одним махом, в один момент is used in a shortened way at one swoop. The American variant is “in one fell swoop” [Mx. Strongfort had decided, he said, to teach me everything in one fell swoop (W. Saroyan)]. The original “wear one's heart upon one's sleeve for daws to peck at” ("Othello") is also abridged to “wear one's heart upon one's sleeve” .

WAYS OF FORMING PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS (Koonin+Dubenetz)

A.V. Koonin (besides his basic classification) classified phraseological units according to the ways they are formed. He pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological units.

Primary ways of forming phraseological units are connected with forming a unit on the basis of a free word-group:

a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups, e.g. hit below the belt; jump the gun –(to start running before the start (sport).

'That cock won’t fight' can be used as a free word-group when it is used in sports (cock fighting ), however it becomes a phraseological unit when it is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically,

In cosmic technique we can point out the following phrases: «launching pad» in its terminological meaning is «стартовая площадка», in its transferred meaning - «отправной пункт», «to link up» - «cтыковаться, стыковать космические корабли» in its transferred meaning it means -«знакомиться»;

b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups reflecting ways & customs of the English people by transferring their meaning, e.g. ‘baker’s dozen’; blue stocking; carry coals to Newcastle;

New: «granny farm» - «пансионат для престарелых», «Troyan horse» - «компьютерная программа, преднамеренно составленная для повреждения компьютера»;

c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. dumb dogs are dangerous; creature comforts- земные блага; dribs & drabs –слишком мало, кот наплакал; New: «a sad sack» - несчастный случай», «culture vulture» - «человек, интересующийся искусством», «fudge and nudge» - «уклончивость».

d) by means of expressiveness, especially it is characteristic for forming interjections, e.g. «My aunt!», « Hear, hear!» etc

e) by means of distorting a word group, e.g. «odds and ends» was formed from «odd ends»,

f) they can contain archaisms, e.g. «in brown study» means «in gloomy meditation» where both components preserve their archaic meanings,

h) they can be formed on some unreal image, e.g. «to have butterflies in the stomach» - «испытывать волнение», «to have green fingers» - »преуспевать как садовод-любитель» etc.

i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or polititions in everyday life, e.g. «corridors of power» (Snow), «American dream» (Alby) «locust years» (Churchil) , «the winds of change» (Mc Millan). How goes the enemy? (Dickens – Который час?)

Secondary ways of forming phraseological units presuppose their creation on the basis of another phraseological unit; they are formed with the help of the following ways:

a) conversion, e.g. «to vote with one’s feet» was converted into «vote with one’s feet»;

b) changing the grammar form, e.g. «Make hay while the sun shines» is transferred into a verbal phrase - «to make hay while the sun shines»;

c) analogy, e.g. «Curiosity killed the cat» was transferred into «Care killed the cat»;

d) contrast, e.g. «cold surgery» - «a planned- before operation» was formed by contrasting it with «acute surgery», «thin cat» - «a poor person» was formed by contrasting it with «fat cat»;

e) shortening of proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb «You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear» by means of clipping the middle of it: the phraseological unit «to make a sow’s ear» was formed with the meaning «ошибаться».

f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as translation loans, e.g. « kill the goose that laid the golden eggs» (Greek - Aesop), « to take the bull by the horns» ( Latin) an ugly duckling (Dutch) or by means of phonetic borrowings (French), «corpse d’elite» (French), «sotto voce» (Italian) [ˈsotto ˈvoːtʃe], literally "under voice") means intentionally lowering one's voice for emphasis; c'est la vie.

Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style and are not used very often.