VI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2014

It has been observed that historical events are not very often referred to in phraseological studies yet [Беляевская 1980: 36]. But they seem to be very important in perceiving their stylistic connotation [Башиева 1995].

Our paper is targeted at tracing back the origin of the most popular idioms and other phraseological units (PUs) in current English and finding out some connection of their meaning with the extra-linguistic situation of a particular historical period or event in the life of Great Britain i.e. the actual meaning of a PU is found out by means of reference to the meaning of its inner form.

To begin with, in defining the linguistic status of set expressions under study we appeal to Alexander V. Kunin's theory of phraseological identification [Кунин 1970].

Historical events have undoubtedly made their contribution to the development of English phraseology. Thus, the idiom to send to Coventry finds its origin in the Civil War between King Charles I and Parliament in 1642-1646. In his History of the Great Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (Volume 2, Chapter VI) E. Clarendon says that Royalist prisoners captured at Birmingham were sent to Coventry, a Parliamentary stronghold, where some of them were beheaded [Clarendon 1999]; hence the association of 'sending to Coventry' with the punishment of disloyalty, which later took the form of not speaking to the offender. So the meaning of the idiom today is 'to punish someone for disloyalty to his companions or workmates by refusing to speak to him' and 'sending to Coventry' [Gulland 1994], by the way, is a common practice in schools and trade unions in England as it is pointed out by the authors of one of the recent dictionaries of current English idioms.

And the idiom a hue and cry having the meaning 'general outcry and alarm, often with shouting, searching, chasing' is originally connected with the fact that the hue and cry was a system for the pursuit and arrest of criminals in which all citizens were obliged to take part, e.g.: "The only thing now was to sit down and wait till the hue and cry had died down and the murderers thought the affair was forgotten." (W. S. Maugham, "Footprints in the Jungle") [Cowie 1984: 291].

Besides, the foreign learner of English will find it necessary to know that modern English phraseology is a rich source of information not only about events in Great Britain itself but also about its interrelations with neighbouring countries and other countries of the world. An important piece of information for a foreign student is, for example, that the negative connotation of a number of idioms containing the component 'Dutch' is explained by the unpleasant associations of certain historical events, namely, by the English-Dutch wars and rivalry at sea in the seventeenth century: a Dutch party – 'a party to which each guest contributes some food or drink' [Gulland 1994: 189]; Dutch feast – 'the feast where the host is the first to get drunk' [Kunin 1984: 267]; a Dutch treat – 'an outing, entertainment, social gathering, etc. where each person pays his own share of expenses' [Cowie 1984: 160]; in Dutch – 'in trouble' [Benson 1990: 81]; Dutch courage – 'courage obtained from drinking alcohol' [Urdang 1996: 66]; Dutch comfort/ consolation – 'no comfort/ consolation at all' [Kunin 1984: 230]; double Dutch – 'meaningless sounds or words' [Cowie 1984: 154]; a Dutch auction – 'an auction at which the starting price is pitched high and then slowly reduced until a bid is made' [Gulland 1994: 189]; to talk to someone like a Dutch uncle – 'to lecture, admonish, talk seriously and reprovingly' [Cowie 1984: 538], etc. The idioms with the component 'Dutch' are rather frequent not only in modern English and American literature but also in business email correspondence it might be found as well.

The meaning of the idiom a Florence Nightingale – 'a devoted nurse' – originates from the British nurse, also known as the Lady with the Lamp, who served in the military hospital at Scutari, during the Crimean War, 1854-1856 [Cowie 1984].

In my opinion, tracing back the origin of many English idioms and other phraseological units to their etymological source is very important as it helps to understand the meaning of the inner form of the phraseologism and, consequently, its actual meaning, in the long run.

Список использованной литературы

Башиева С.К. Стилистический компонент фразеологического значения: Автореф. дис. …д-ра филол. наук.– Краснодар, 1995. – 38 с.

Беляевская Е.Г. Английская фразеология: основные направления исследования // Вопросы фразеологии: Сб. науч. тр. / Моск. гос. пед. ин-т иностр. яз. им. М. Тореза, 1980. – Вып. 168. – С. 6-67.

Кунин А. В. Английская фразеология (теоретический курс). Москва. 1970.

Кунин А.В. Англо-русский фразеологический словарь. Москва: Русский язык. 1984.

Benson M., Benson E. and Ilson R. The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English. Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Moscow: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 1990.

Clarendon E. History of the Great Rebellion and Civil Wars in England. Oxford: OUP. 1999.

Cowie, A. P., Mackin R. and McCaig I. R. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. V.2: Phrase, Clause & Sentence Idioms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1984.

Gulland D. M. and Hinds-Howell D. G. The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd. 1994.

Urdang, L. (ed) Longman Dictionary of English Idioms. Harlow and London: Longman Group UK Ltd. 2004.