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ENGLISH IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS OF LITERARY
ETYMOLOGY
PhD M.A.Usmonov (SamSIFL)
Аннотация. В настоящей статье исследуются образные фразеологизмы
английского языка, сформированные на базе художественной литературы.
Теоретическая часть статьи подтверждается многочисленными примерами
английских идиом, связанных с персонажами и сюжетами художественных
произведений.
Ключевые слова: фразеологическая единица, образ, художественный текст,
литература, персонаж, сюжет.
The study of proper names as part of phraseological units in works of art follows
from the need for a deeper understanding of them. Phraseological units, reflecting in their
semantics the long process of development of the culture of the English people, fix and
transmit from generation to generation cultural attitudes and stereotypes.
The linguistic picture of the world as a whole and in the main coincides with the
logical reflection of the world in the minds of people, but at the same time separate sections
in the linguistic picture of the world are preserved, to which phraseology also belongs; it has
its own in each language. Every culture has its own words. To be considered a key
dictionary of culture, a word must be commonly used, frequent, must be part of
phraseological units [3, p. 84].
Practice has shown that proper names are an important source of information, on the
skillful use of which the depth of penetration into the treasury of the studied language
depends.
English literature and oral folk art have significantly enriched the English language,
bringing into it a lot of bright, expressive images that have entered everyday speech. Often,
the names of characters in novels, plays, poems or fairy tales in their use approach the
common names denoting certain traits of a person’s character or behavior. Such, for
example, as irrepressible curiosity –
peeping Tom –
"too curious person". In the legend of
Lady Godiva, the wife of the Earl of Mercia, it is told that the earl imposed an unbearable
tax on the residents of Coventry. When Lady Godiva stood up for them, the earl said he
would cancel the tax if Lady Godiva dared to drive naked through the whole city. In order
not to embarrass her, all the residents closed the shutters of their houses. The only one who
began to peek through the crack was the tailor Tom, who was immediately struck blind.
Hence the meaning of this phraseology [1, p. 76].
Shakespeare’s plays were a rich source of English phraseology. In many
phraseological units created by Shakespeare, or in quotations from his works, we find
proper names, for example:
"Hamlet" [W. Shakespeare, "Hamlet", 160, p. 189]:
To out-Herod Herod
– "surpass Herod himself in cruelty";
Hamlet with Hamlet left out –
"Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark", i.e.
something devoid of the very essence.
"
Merchant of Venice
" [W. Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice", 1610, p. 254]:
A Daniel come to judgment
– "an honest, insightful judge."
«Othello»:
The green-eyed monster
– jealousy.
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Cordelia’s gift
– "gentle female voice".
In modern English, Shakespearean can be used with some changes.
A large number of phraseological units created by Shakespeare came into general
use, which testifies to Shakespeare’s linguistic genius and his enormous popularity.
Besides Shakespeare, many other writers have enriched English phraseology. Among
them, first of all, we should mention Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton, Jonathan Swift,
Alexander Pope, Charles Dickens and Walter Scott.
Charles Dickens:
an Artful Dodger
– "a scoundrel, a rascal" (the nickname of the
pickpocket John Dawkins in the novel "Oliver Twist");
Barkis is willing
! – "'Barkis is not
averse’, I really want to" (an expression from the novel "David Copperfield". The carrier
Barkis repeatedly began with these words his marriage proposal to the maid Pegotti);
King
Charles's head
– "an obsession, a subject of insanity, a "fad" (an expression from the novel
"David Copperfield". Related to the infatuation of the half-witted Mr. Dick with Charles I);
D. Defoe:
man Friday –
"faithful servant" (named after faithful servants in the novel "Robinson
Crusoe"); [D. Defoe’s "Robinson Crusoe", 1719, p. 352].
JohnPool:
Paul Pry –
"man poking his nose into other people’s business, peeping
Tom" [J. Poole. "Paul Pry", 1846, p. 374].
R. L. Stevenson:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
– "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", a man
emdiving two principles – good and evil (after the hero of the story "The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"). [Stevenson R.L. "The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde", 1886, p. 216].
R. Kipling:
the tail wags the dog
– the subordinate commands the boss ("The
Conundrum of the Workshops")
Many phraseological units were not created by the writers themselves, but only
thanks to the latter have become widespread in modern English.
Often they reflect the history or tradition of a particular city or settlement. For
example, the expression
to fight like Kilkenny cats
means "to fight to mutual destruction, not
to the stomach, but to the death." Several soldiers from the 18th-century garrison in the city
of Kilkenny tied up two cats with tails for fun and threw them over a clothesline to watch
them fight. When someone sent for an officer with a request to stop this cruel fun, one of the
soldiers cut off the cats' tails – and the animals fled. When the officer asked where the
bloody tails came from, someone replied that two cats fought until they ate each other to the
tails [1, p. 77].
«Members of Parliament and ladies of fashion, like himself and Fleur... now and
then... going for each other like Kilkenny cats». (J. Galsworthy. «A Modern Comedy».)
There are phraseological units that reflect the place of a particular district, city,
village in public production or related to crafts that are widespread in certain areas of the
country: This is how, for example, the expression
to grin like a Cheshire cat
arose. Cheshire
County has long been famous for its cheeses. The brand of the company that produced one
of the varieties of Cheshire cheese was a smiling cat's face, in the form of which cheese
heads were depicted. Although this phraseology appeared a long time ago, it became
especially popular after the publication of Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland.
Phraseological units with geographical names arose due to various associations,
among which one can note a production sign associated with a given locality (
to carry coals
to Newcastle
"to take something to where it is enough"), an event that took place in this
locality (
Donnybrook Fair
"noisy gathering, bazaar" – by the name of the annual fair that
took place until the middle of the XIX century near Dublin). We also note
Shipshape and
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Bristol fashion
– "in perfect order";
Canterbury story
– "a long, boring story" (an allusion to
Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales");
Brummagem button
– "fake coin" (from distorted.
Birmingham);
Colchester natives
– "oysters";
a wise man of Gotham
– "a narrow-minded
man, a simpleton", etc.
Phraseological units with a proper name, including the name of nationalities in its
composition
For example:
to be Greek to smb
. – "to be completely incomprehensible",
Russian tea
– "tea with lemon",
an Irish bull
– "obvious absurdity", take
French leave
– "leave without
warning" (cf. Russian: leave in English),
Indian summer
–warm autumn.
A whole group consists of phraseological units with the Dutch – Dutch component,
which are often found in English speech, used with a negative meaning: (a)
Dutch courage
– "courage after drinking alcohol", for example: "Sometimes before leaving I would drink a
glass of vodka for Dutch courage". (b)
Dutch comfort
– "weak consolation": "But it was
Dutch comfort to know that the desire to give and to receive love had twice left her – a dead
woman" (John Galsworthy).
Phraseological units with a proper name that originated on American soil.
They are fundamentally no different from the British ones. They include proper
names associated with American reality, history, literature, etc. American slang isespecially
rich in phraseological units with proper names. Here are some examples of slang idioms
with toponyms. As a rule, these are substantive phraseological units in which the toponym
performs the function of definition [1, p. 78].
Washington Irving:
a Rip Van Winkle
– a backward, stagnant person, a retrograde
(after the hero of the story of the same name who slept for twenty years);
Fenimore Cooper:
the last of the Mohicans
(after the title of the novel). Mohicans are
an extinct tribe of North American Indians;
Arkansas lizard
(in old military slang) – letters(from the state of Arkansas);
California blanket
– "the newspaper in which homeless people are wrapped up,
settling down for the night on the street".
Based on the above, we can draw the following conclusion that a proper name,
having become part of a phraseology, acquires meaning and, being its component, obeys the
same laws as a common name.
ЛИТЕРАТУРА
:
1.
Артемова
А.Ф.,
Леонович
О.А.
Имена
собственные
в
составе
фразеологических единиц
// Иностр. яз. шк.
– 2003. –
№ 4.
– C. 73-78.
2.
Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка.
–
М.:
Высшая школа, 1986.
–
336 с.
3.
Кучешева И. Л. Лексико
-
семантический анализ имен собственных в составе
английских и русских фразеологических единиц: лингвокультурологический подход
// Иностранные языки в школе.
– 2008. –
№ 5.
–
С. 81
-84.
