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 exactly what 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 phraseological units 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 audiences, large enough, called "phraseology". It is here that they are engaged in the study of phraseological units - stable, expressive combinations of words that have a single integral meaning and perform one syntactic function.
As an example - phraseological units of the English language with translation: up one's sleeves - carelessly, carelessly, after the sleeves; in blooming health - “healthy, strong, blood with milk; every inch a king - real, whole, from head to toe and others.
English
Phraseology is a real treasury of the language, any without exception. Phraseological units in the English language will help us to see this, which for centuries have absorbed the history of the people, their mentality, culture, way of life, and national characteristics. They also help determine the main sources of idioms. By origin, English phraseological units are divided into two groups: native English and borrowed. The latter, in their turn, are divided into interlingual and intralanguage. Here, borrowed idioms in a foreign language form also stand out in a special class.
From the foregoing, the following four categories can be listed:
- native English phraseological units;
- borrowing from other languages;
- intra-language borrowing - phraseological units that came from American, Australian versions of the English language;
- idioms borrowed in a foreign language form.
And now in detail about each of the above items.
Natively English phraseological units
This is a fairly large group. You can say a significant part of the phraseological composition of the English language. Inside this species, the 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 "born in London," and literally translates as "born to the sounds of the bells of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow." The fact is that this rather famous church is located in the very center of the capital of England.
Further on are idioms in which the customs and traditions of the British are reflected. As an example, let us imagine such English phraseological units with translation: to cut somebody off with a shilling - leave without inheritance (if only one shilling was left in the inheritance, then this act was committed intentionally); to sit above (below) the salt - occupy a high (low) step in the social hierarchy (according to the old English tradition, the salt shaker was placed in the center of the table, and guests were seated in accordance with their social position: the noble - at the upper end of the table, and the poor - at bottom).
Not without English beliefs: have kissed the Blarney stone - to be a flattering person (according to legend, anyone who kisses a stone located in Ireland in Blarney Castle, that time becomes the owner of the gift of flattering speech).
Bible
The great phraseological heritage in the English language was left behind by the Bible and the great William Shakespeare.
The number of “biblicalisms,” or biblical phraseological turns, is so great that listing them is a rather difficult task. The following expressions can be added to one of the most used in modern English: to bear one's cross - carry your cross; to kill the fatted calf ”- literally means to kill a fat body (the story of the meeting of the prodigal son), that is, to meet cordially; to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind - sow the wind - reap the storm, cruelly pay for evil deeds; to sit under one's vine and fig-tree - literally means to sit under your vine and fig tree, which means to sit at home in peace and security, to be in your home.
It is necessary to mention 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 the order of words.
William Shakespeare
Another important layer is “Shakespeare”, that is, stable 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 green, time for youthful inexperience (the play "Anthony and Cleopatra"); to win golden opinions - arouse universal admiration (the play "Henry IV") and many others.
There are also some deviations from the texts of the great playwright: rearrangement of words, reduction of phrases, replacement of some words with others. However, there are examples when a particular word has long gone out of use, but retained its original form, meaning within the framework of “Shakespeareanism”. A vivid example of this is the turnover 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 - border, limit.
English literature and history
English classical literature, it can be said, has made a huge contribution to the development of the phraseological system of the English language. In addition to Shakespeare, writers such as Jeffrey Chosser, Alexander Pope, Walter Scott, John Milton, Charles Dickens and many others enriched the English idiomatic foundation. For example, to catch smb. red-handed (Walter Scott) - catch red-handed, capture at the crime scene; fall on evil days (John Milton) - black days, eking out a miserable existence, misery; a bag of bones (Charles Dickens) - skin and bones, to be depleted; man Friday (D. Defoe) - Friday; faithful servant.
In the same group, a considerable number of phraseological units are observed, which include the names of famous, prominent Englishmen: Hobson's choice - involuntary choice, forced choice (Robson is the owner of the stables in Cambridge of the sixteenth century, obliging his customers to take only the horse that is closer to the exit)
Borrowing
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 momentum, which once crossed the ocean from the United States and boldly set foot on the shore of Misty Albion. These are the so-called intralanguage borrowings. As a rule, they are associated with the works of art by American writers: the almighty dollar (V. Irving) - the ironic saying “omnipotent dollar”; the last hurrah (O'Connor) - swan song, last cheers; 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.
Next come antique borrowings - phraseological units that fell into English from the pages of ancient authors, as well as from 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 - time of prosperity, rebirth, 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 - the literal translation of “iron and blood” in the meaning of “ruthless use of force” (characteristic of the principles of Bismarck’s policy, which brutally suppressed opponents of the unification of German lands) tilt at windmills (Cervantes) - fight with windmills; an ugly duckling (G.Kh. Andersen) - an ugly duckling, outwardly not attractive, but inside kind and sympathetic, outwardly not promising, but later opening from an unexpected direction; the Sick Man of Europe - this statement can be classified as "Russian phraseological units in English," and it means "a sick man of Europe" (he is attributed to Nicholas I, who called Turkey that).