English phraseological units with translation - examples and meanings

In order to create a basic palette, you need only three colors: red, yellow, blue. Mixing them, we get the so-called intermediate: green, orange and purple. So what is next? The further, the more colors and shades, without which life is a black and white film. This is also the case 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 phraseology? 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, big enough, called "phraseology." Just here, and are engaged in the study of phraseological units - stable, expressive combinations of words that have a single holistic meaning and perform a single syntactic function.

As an example - the phraseology of the English language with the translation: up one's sleeves - carelessly, carelessly, through the sleeves; In blooming health - "healthy, strong, blood with milk; Every inch a king - real, entirely, from head to foot and others.

English

Phraseology is a real treasury of language, of any, without exception. To see this help us phraseology in the English language, which for centuries absorbed the history of the people, its mentality, culture, way of life, national characteristics. They also help identify the main sources of idioms. By origin, English phraseological units are divided into two groups: primordially English and borrowed. The latter, in turn, are divided into interlingual and intralinguistic. Here also borrowed idioms in a foreign language are singled out in a special class.

From all of the above, you can list the following four categories:

• Primordially English phraseological units;
• Borrowing from other languages;
• Intralinguistic borrowings - phraseological units that come from American, Australian variants of the English language;
• Idioms borrowed in a foreign language.

And now in detail about each of the above items.

Original English phraseological units

This is a fairly large group. You can say a significant part of the phraseological composition of the English language. Within this species, the following subgroups can be distinguished: first, they are stable combinations associated with English realities. For example, to be born within the sound of Bow Bells, which means "born in London", and in a literal translation sounds like "born to the sound of the bell ringing of the church of St. Mary le Bow". The fact is that this well-known church is located in the heart of the capital of England.

Next - idioms, which are reflected in the customs and traditions of the British. As an example, let's imagine such English phraseological units with the translation: to leave without inheritance (if only one shilling was left in the inheritance, then this act was done intentionally); To sit above (below) the salt - to occupy a high (low) level in the social hierarchy (according to the old English custom, the saltcellar was placed in the center of the table, and the guests were seated in accordance with their social position: the noble - at the top end of the table, and the poor - for Lower).

Not without English beliefs: have kissed the Blarney stone - to be a flattering man (according to legend, anyone who kisses a stone that is in Ireland in the castle of Blarney, that hour becomes the owner of the gift of flattering speech).

Bible

The Bible and the great William Shakespeare left a huge phraseological heritage in English.

The number of "bibleisms", or biblical phraseological turns, is so great that listing them is quite an easy task. One of the most used in modern English is the following: to bear one's cross - to bear your cross; To kill the fatted calf "- in the literal translation means to slaughter a fat body (the story of the meeting of the prodigal son), that is, to welcome cordially; To sow the wind and reap the whirlwind - you sow the wind - reap a whirlwind, brutally pay for evil deeds; To sit under one's vine and fig-tree - in a literal translation means to sit under your vine and fig tree, which means to sit at home in peace and security, to be in your own home.

Here it is necessary to mention that many meanings of English phraseological units of biblical origin are at odds with their book prototypes, which is explained by the reinterpretation of biblical stories over time, as well as the omission of some archaisms and the changing order of words.

William Shakespeare

Another important layer is "Shakespearism", that is, stable expressions related to the works of Shakespeare. Their total number is over one hundred. For example, midsummer madness - a mind-numbing (play "Twelfth Night"); Salad days - young-green, time for youthful inexperience (play "Antony and Cleopatra"); To win golden opinions - to cause general admiration (the play "Henry IV") and many others.

Here, too, there are some deviations from the texts of the great playwright: shifting words, shortening the phrase, replacing some words with others. However, there are examples where a word has long since disappeared, but has retained its original form, meaning within the framework of "Shakespearism." A vivid example of this is the turnover from Who bourne no traveler returns - from the realm of death, no one has ever returned, in which the archaism bourne continues its life - the border, the limit.

English Literature and History

English classical literature, it can be said, made a huge contribution to the development of the phraseological system of the English language. In addition to Shakespeare, writers such as Jeffrey Chausser, 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, grab at the crime scene; Fall on evil days (John Milton) - black days, drag on a miserable existence, poverty; A bag of bones (Charles Dickens) - skin and bone, be exhausted; Man Friday (D. Defoe) - Friday; A faithful servant.

In the same group there is also a considerable number of phraseological units, in which there are the names of famous, outstanding Englishmen: Hobson's choice is a choice involuntarily, forced choice (Robson is the owner of a stables in Cambridge of the sixteenth century, obliging his customers to take only the horse that is closer To the exit)

Borrowings

As mentioned above, borrowed phraseological units in English are many, and they can also be divided into subgroups. On the first place there are steady turns, which once crossed the ocean from the USA and boldly set foot on the bank of the Foggy Albion. This is the so-called intralinguistic borrowing. As a rule, they are connected with the works of American writers: the almighty dollar (V. Irving) - ironic saying "almighty dollar"; The last hurrah (O'Connor) - swan song, the last hurray; The last of the Mohicans (F. Cooper) is from the category of "Russian-English phraseological units", since it has its own analogue in Russian - the last of the Mohicans, the last representative and others.

Next are the ancient borrowings - phraseological units, caught in English from the pages of ancient authors, as well as from the myths of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome: achiles 'heel - a vulnerable place, the Achilles' heel; The apple of discord - the main reason for enmity or quarrel, apple of discord; The golden age - the time of prosperity, rebirth, the golden age.

Further, in descending, borrowings from French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Danish, Russian languages follow: appetite comes with eating (Francois Rabelais) - appetite comes with eating; Blood and iron - a literal translation of "iron and blood" in the meaning of "ruthless use of force" (a characteristic of the principles of Bismarck's policy, cruelly suppressing opponents of the unification of German lands); Tilt at windmills (Cervantes) - fight with windmills; An ugly duckling (GH Andersen) is an ugly duckling, not outwardly attractive, but inside is kind and sympathetic, outwardly not giving hope, but later opening from an unexpected side; The Sick Man of Europe - this statement can be attributed to the category "Russian phraseological units in English", and it means "sick man in Europe" (he is credited with Nicholas I, who called it Turkey).