An idiomatic expression is a stable phrase with independent semantics. Quite often, idioms are also called phraseological units. It is worth noting that the term "idiomatic expression" is used in scientific circles, phraseology is the definition used in everyday life.
When considering the meanings of the idiomatic expression, one should take into account not the individual constituent parts, but its meanings as a whole. If you break phraseology into words and only then try to understand the meaning, you get only a set of words. Remember, idiomatic expressions are inextricable. It is form that determines their meaning and meaning.
Idiomatic expressions are inherent in all languages and bear the imprint of the cultural and historical development of the people. This is due to the fact that phraseological units reflect the realities of one or another people - customs, names and names of cities.
For example, phraseology: "Dine with Duke Humphrey." If you translate it into Russian, you get: "Dine with the Duke of Humphrey." But who he is and what it means to dine with him is not clear to us. If we turn to the history of phraseology, it becomes clear that before the beggars asked alms from the grave of this very duke. It turns out that this expression can be translated into Russian as: “to remain without lunch”, “to be poor”.
Idiomatic expressions can be divided into several groups depending on their origin.
The first group includes phraseological units of biblical origin. These include idioms such as "Sodom and Gomorrah", "the forbidden fruit." Our language has learned them from the time of the adoption of Christianity and the spread of church literature on the territory of Kievan Rus.
The second group should include idiomatic expressions borrowed from ancient literature: “Augean stables”, “Achilles heel”. These idioms, as well as the idioms of the first group, can be found in any of the known languages.
To the third group we attribute the original Russian expressions: "hang your nose", "language will bring to Kiev." Quite often, such phraseological units we can meet in related languages, such as Ukrainian, Belarusian. This is explained by the fact that for a long time these peoples were in close contact with each other and developed almost simultaneously.
Idiomatic expression can also enter our lives through literature. It is known that the works of the great playwright William Shakespeare became one of the main sources of English phraseology.
Interesting idiomatic expressions also arise when translating text from one language to another. Quite often this happens if the language into which the text is translated does not have a direct equivalent to phraseological units. In this case, the idiomatic expression is translated by means of tracing paper. An example of this may be idioms such as "blue stocking", "wide leg." Over time, they are included in the lexical fund of the language, becoming its integral part.
Any idiomatic expression is a wise, skillfully designed thought that carries certain information that is understandable only to a native speaker.