EnglishIdioms论文111.docx

EnglishIdioms论文111.docx

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EnglishIdioms论文111

OntheInfulenceofHistoricalDevelopmentandGeographyEnvironmentontheFormationofEnglishIdioms

Abstract

Englishisalanguageparticularlyrichinidioms.Lotsofculturalinformationisembodiedinidioms.Insomesenses,idiomsarethereflectionoftheenvironment,life,historicalculture,etc.Theyarecommonlyusedinalltypesoflanguage,informalandformal,spokenandwritten.Inbrief,idiomsarefixedphrases.Theygothroughthetestofhistoryandcannotbeseparated.Theyareanimportantpartofthegeneralvocabularyofeverylanguage.

Keywords

Theoringinsoftheidioms,comparisonbetweenEnglishidiomsandChineseidioms,andthetranslationofEnglishidioms.

Ⅰ.ThedefinitionandfeaturesofEnglishidioms

1.Definition

whatareidioms?

“Idiomsconsistofsetphrasesandshortsentences”and“idiomsareexpressionsthatarenotreadilyunderstandablefromtheirliteralmeaningsofindividualelements.”（ZhangWeiyou,174）“Anidiomisaphrasewhosemeaningisdifferentorsometimesimpossibletoguessbylookingatthemeaningsoftheindividualwordsitcontains.”（ASHonrnby,2004,B19）suchas,“blacksheep”（害群之马）,“Putasockinit”（住口）,“goovermyhead”（无法理解）.

“Mostphrasallexemesareidioms,especiallyasequenceofwordswhichissemanticallyandoftensyntacticallyrestricted.”（HuZhuanglin,106）E.g.“Don’tputyourproblemsatmydoorstep”（归咎于我）,“doinRomeastheRoman’sdo”（入乡随俗）,“aspoorasachurchmouse”（一贫如洗）

2.Features

1.structuralstability

ManyEnglishidiomsarecharacterizedbystructuralinvariability.Theirformisoftenfixed.Thewordinidiomaticexpressionscannotbedeleted,addedto,intheidiomlivefromhandtomouth,itisimpossibletosaylivefromhandtothemouthorlivefromahandtoamouth;intheidiomtokickthebucket,iftheword“bucket”isreplacedby“pail”,themeaningoftheidiomwillnolongermean“die”.

2.semanticunity

Idiomsaremainlycharacteizedbytheirsemanticunity.Semanticunitymeansanidiomfunctioningasaunitofmeaning,andmustbelearnedasawhole.Thatis,themeaningoftheidiomcannotbededucedfromtheliteralmeaningofitsmemberwords.So,pullone'ssocksupnotatallconnectedwith“socks”,itmeanstocheerup,workharder,asin“Ifyouwanttobeconsideredforpromotionnextyear,you'dbetterpullyoursocksup.”Ifyouwanttobepromotednextyear,youshouldworkharder.Likewise,themeaningofknowwherethepincheshasnothingtodowiththemeaningoftheseparatewords,itmeanstoknowthedifficulties.

3.figuraivefeatures

Idiomsareoftenforcible,terseandvivid,becausetheyareusedfiguratively.Idiomsareanimportantthetoricaldeviceinlanguage,andtheyincorporatevariousfiguresofspeech,amongthem,mostaresimilesandmetaphors.Agreatmanyidiomsareusedinsimileandmetaphoricalstyleinsteadofstatinginexperienceorthoughtoutrighttoachieveabetterexpressiveeffect.Forexample,similes,suchas,astimidasarabbit,likearedragtoabull.Metaphors,suchas,tohelpalanedogoverthestiles:

togiveupsomebodywhoisindifficultyortrouble.

Ⅱ.Englishidiomsoriginatingfromhistoricaldevelopment

Lookingbackatthedevelopmentofhumanbeing,thegreatinfluencesonnationalculturesaremainlythechangesoftheearth’scrust,nationalmovement,thenationalconquestandassimilation,andthewarbetweennations.TheBritainhasalonghistory.InEnglish,thousandsofidiomsoriginatedfromgreathistoricaleventsandthesocieties’transformation

1.TheInfluencesofRomanConquestonEnglishIdioms

In55BD,thecommanderinchiefofRoman,JuliusCaesar,cametotheGreatBritainafterconqueringtheGaul,butdidnothaveconflictwiththelocalCelts.AndthenextyearCaesarcametotheGreatBritainsecondtime.ButthistimehemadehisrootfirmlyinthenortheastoftheGreatBritain;hefiredwiththelocalones.AlthoughtheCaesarswonbuttheydidnotbringtheCeltstotheirknees,sotheydidnotmakegreatinfluencesonthesocialculturesoftheGreatBritain.ButCaesarhadinfluencedthelanguagealottillnow.

TheRomecapturedGreatBritainfornearly400years.Till407,theRomehadtowithdrawfromGreatBritainbecauseRomanwasbesiegedinsideandoutside.FourhundredyearsisenoughtimetoformBritishLatinculture.Romewentaway,buttheinfluencesofGreatBritainontheirculturewerestillthereontheisland.“DoinRomeastheRomansdo.”“Romewasnotbuiltinaday.”“AllroadsleadtoRome.”FromtheseidiomswecanfoundtheinfluencesofRomanConquestaresotremendous.

Ⅲ.TheInfluencesofTeutonicConquestonEnglishIdioms

Inabout449,threeGermanTribes,residedinthenorthwestofEurope,invadedtheGreatBritain.TheywereAnglos,SaxonsandJutes.TheycrossedtheNorthSeaandtookadvantagesofthewaninginpowerofRomanwhocouldcarenothingbutthem.TheycameintotheGreatBritainandmetgreatdefenseofCelts,whichmadetheconq“Cutsomeonetothequick”,here,“quick”means“skin”especially,“theskinofthenail”thatwillmakeyoupainfulwhenyoutouch.“Quick”hereisawordofAnglo-Saxon.Thisidiominfersthathurtsomebodyinmotion.Forexample,“Hercruelwordscuthimtothequick.”“Gothroughfireandwater”，theseidiomsstemmedfromthelawofDeclareGuiltyintheperiodofAnglo-Saxon.Ifthesuspect’shandsweregoodenoughaftermakingthemintotheboilingwater,hewasnotguilty.Sothemeaningofthisidiomisthatdefyingalldifficultiesanddangers.Itwaswidelyquotedinthepast.Forexample,Iwouldgothoughfireandwatertofindoutthetruthofthatmatter.

Infact,Anglo-SaxonwastheoriginofModernEnglish.OrmoreactuallythatWestSaxon,thelanguageofSaxondwellingonthesouthofThames,wastheoriginoftheStandardEnglish.SotheinfluencesofTeutonicConquestonEnglishwereoverallandhadgreatdecisiveinfluences.TheAnglo-SaxonwasoneofthethreeoriginsofModernEnglishvocabulary.ManyEnglishIdiomsfromthisperiodcouldbetakenasevidence.

3.TheInfluencesofInvasionofVikingsonEnglishIdioms

Inabout9thcentury,BritainwasfacingthewidelyinvasionsofVikingsespeciallytheinvasionofDanewhichbeganattheendof8thcenturyandlastednearlythreehundredyears.Atthebeginning,theyinvadedaspiratesanddidnotstayalong.Inthemiddleof9thcentury,theDanesbegantomigratenationwide.Theyannexedanothercountry’sterritoryandestablishedthe“Danelaw”inthenortheastofBritain.WhenAlfredtheGreatruledtheBritainin871-899,theDanesfoughtagainsttheDane,theydidnotdrivetheDaneoutofBritain.Soin878,AlfredtheGreatwasforcedtosignthetreatyPeaceofWedmore.Accordingtothetreaty,theDanesstillownedthe“Danelaw”.

BecauseoftheinvasionandoccupationofScandinavians,thelargepartofBritainsufferedgreatinfluencesbytheNorthEuropeanculture.NowadaysthenamesofthenorthandtheeastpartofBritainwerefromScandinavian.Andalsosomepeople’snameswerefromScandinaviansuchasJackson,Thompson,Stevenson,andJohnsonandsoon.“Raincatsanddogs”stemmedfrommythologyofthenorthEurope.ThemainGodsofNorsemenOdin,dogandwolfsymbolized“wind”andcatsymbolized“rain”.Socatsanddogshadthemeaningofviolentstorms.E.g.:

Youcannotgoouttonight;itisrainingcatsanddogs.“Sixofoneandhalfadozenoftheother”,12binarysystemwasbroughtinbyDanishconquest.Anditwasusedtillnow.

4.TheInfluencesofNormandyConquestonEnglishIdioms

In1066,Edwarddied.BecausehehadnosontosucceedhisthronetheychoseHaroldGodwintobethesuccessor.ThishadenragedthecousinofEdwardWilliam,aNormandyduke,whointendedtosucceedthethrone.WilliamledtheFrencharmyandfleetcrosstheseaandinvadedBritainonSeptember1066.TheydefeatedtheBritishtroopsandkilledHarold.Atlast,WilliamenteredLondonandbecametheKingnamedWilliamI.ItwastheBeginningofHouseofNormandyinBritishhistory.    

“GoDutch”meanspayone’sownexpense,shareexpenses.ThemeaninghadbeensuitedbythepeopleandhadbeenusedwidelyintheEnglishdailylife.DutchwaseitheracountryorthepeopleinDutch.Peopleused"goDutch”toexpressthemeaningofsharingexpensesandpayone'sownexpensetoexpresstheirrivalsensetoDutch.

5.TheEnglishIdiomsOriginatedfromWorldWarI

In19thcentury,Britishshippingandfleethasanoverwhelmingadvantageintermsofthetotalton.ThehegemonyintheseahasbeenshakenaftertheFirstWorldWar,butthetotaltonrankedthefirstintheworld.AmericareplacedthepositionofthehegemonyintheseawithU.K’saftertheSecondWorldWar,whileU.Kalsotookthethirdrank.Owingtothedevelopmentofseafaring,therearesomanyidiomsrelativetothevoyageemerged.

“Cupoftea”isacommonphraseofspokenEnglish.Itmeansthethingsyoulikeeverymuch.Forexample,travelingisjusthiscupoftea.Andfootballisnothiscupoftea.ThisphrasejustbroughtduringtheFirstWorldWarandtheSecondWorldWar.IntheVictorianage,Teawasnotuniversalinallwalksoflife,especiallybetweenthemen.Atthatmomentifsomeonewantedtoexpressthemetaphorofsomebody’sappreciationofsomething,theywerealmostrootedfromfoodanddrink,suchas“somebody’sportofbeer”.Afterwardsthewomenworkerwereincreasing,theybroughttheafternoonteatotheoffice,themenworkergraduallyjoinedinthegrouptohaveafternoontea.Soteawasconsideredtobeapopulardrink.Thedifferenttasteofteabroughtouttheexpressionof“cupoftea”,andwasextendedtothethingsbesuitableoftaste.

6.TheEnglishIdiomsOriginatedfromWorldWarI