EnglishIdioms论文111.docx

1、EnglishIdioms论文111On the Infulence of Historical Development and Geography Environment on the Formation of English IdiomsAbstractEnglish is a language particularly rich in idioms. Lots of cultural information is embodied in idioms. In some senses, idioms are the reflection of the environment, life,

2、historical culture, etc. They are commonly used in all types of language, informal and formal, spoken and written. In brief, idioms are fixed phrases. They go through the test of history and cannot be separated. They are an important part of the general vocabulary of every language.Key words The ori

3、ngins of the idioms, comparison between English idioms and Chinese idioms, and the translation of English idioms. . The definition and features of English idioms1.Definitionwhat are idioms? “Idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences” and “idioms are expressions that are not readily understan

4、dable from their literal meanings of individual elements.” (Zhang Weiyou, 174) “An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is different or sometimes impossible to guess by looking at the meanings of the individual words it contains.” (A S Honrnby, 2004, B19) such as, “black sheep” (害群之马), “Put a sock in it”

5、 (住口), “go over my head” (无法理解).“Most phrasal lexemes are idioms, especially a sequence of words which is semantically and often syntactically restricted.” (Hu Zhuanglin, 106) E.g. “Dont put your problems at my doorstep” (归咎于我), “do in Rome as the Romans do” (入乡随俗), “as poor as a church mouse” (一贫如洗

6、)2.Features1.structural stability Many English idioms are characterized by structural invariability. Their form is often fixed. The word in idiomatic expressions cannot be deleted, added to, in the idiom live from hand to mouth, it is impossible to say live from hand to the mouth or live from a hand

7、 to a mouth; in the idiom to kick the bucket, if the word “bucket” is replaced by “pail”, the meaning of the idiom will no longer mean“die”. 2. semantic unity Idioms are mainly characteized by their semantic unity. Semantic unity means an idiom functioning as a unit of meaning, and must be learned a

8、s a whole. That is, the meaning of the idiom cannot be deduced from the literal meaning of its member words. So, pull ones socks up not at all connected with “socks”, it means to cheer up, work harder, as in “If you want to be considered for promotion next year , youd better pull your socks up.” If

9、you want to be promoted next year, you should work harder. Likewise, the meaning of know where the pinches has nothing to do with the meaning of the separate words, it means to know the difficulties. 3.figuraive features Idioms are often forcible, terse and vivid, because they are used figuratively.

10、 Idioms are an important thetorical device in language, and they incorporate various figures of speech, among them, most are similes and metaphors. A great many idioms are used in simile and metaphorical style instead of stating in experience or thought outright to achieve a better expressive effect

11、. For example, similes, such as, as timid as a rabbit, like a red rag to a bull. Metaphors, such as, to help a lane dog over the stiles: to give up somebody who is in difficulty or trouble.English idioms originating from historical developmentLooking back at the development of human being, the great

12、 influences on national cultures are mainly the changes of the earths crust, national movement, the national conquest and assimilation, and the war between nations. The Britain has a long history. In English, thousands of idioms originated from great historical events and the societies transformatio

13、n1.The Influences of Roman Conquest on English Idioms In 55 BD, the commander in chief of Roman, Julius Caesar, came to the Great Britain after conquering the Gaul, but did not have conflict with the local Celts. And the next year Caesar came to the Great Britain second time. But this time he made h

14、is root firmly in the northeast of the Great Britain; he fired with the local ones. Although the Caesars won but they did not bring the Celts to their knees, so they did not make great influences on the social cultures of the Great Britain.But Caesar had influenced the language a lot till now.The Ro

15、me captured Great Britain for nearly 400 years. Till 407, the Rome had to withdraw from Great Britain because Roman was besieged inside and outside. Four hundred years is enough time to form British Latin culture. Rome went away, but the influences of Great Britain on their culture were still there

16、on the island. “Do in Rome as the Romans do.” “Rome was not built in a day.” “All roads lead to Rome.” From these idioms we can found the influences of Roman Conquest are so tremendous.The Influences of Teutonic Conquest on English IdiomsIn about 449, three German Tribes, resided in the northwest of

17、 Europe, invaded the Great Britain. They were Anglos, Saxons and Jutes. They crossed the North Sea and took advantages of the waning in power of Roman who could care nothing but them. They came into the Great Britain and met great defense of Celts, which made the conq“Cut someone to the quick”, here

18、, “quick” means “skin” especially, “the skin of the nail” that will make you painful when you touch. “Quick” here is a word of Anglo-Saxon. This idiom infers that hurt somebody in motion. For example, “Her cruel words cut him to the quick.” “Go through fire and water” ，these idioms stemmed from the

19、law of Declare Guilty in the period of Anglo-Saxon. If the suspects hands were good enough after making them into the boiling water, he was not guilty. So the meaning of this idiom is that defying all difficulties and dangers. It was widely quoted in the past. For example, I would go though fire and

20、 water to find out the truth of that matter.In fact, Anglo-Saxon was the origin of Modern English. Or more actually that West Saxon, the language of Saxon dwelling on the south of Thames, was the origin of the Standard English. So the influences of Teutonic Conquest on English were overall and had g

21、reat decisive influences. The Anglo-Saxon was one of the three origins of Modern English vocabulary. Many English Idioms from this period could be taken as evidence.3. The Influences of Invasion of Vikings on English IdiomsIn about 9th century, Britain was facing the widely invasions of Vikings espe

22、cially the invasion of Dane which began at the end of 8th century and lasted nearly three hundred years. At the beginning, they invaded as pirates and did not stay along. In the middle of 9th century, the Danes began to migrate nationwide. They annexed another countrys territory and established the

23、“Danelaw” in the northeast of Britain. When Alfred the Great ruled the Britain in 871-899, the Danes fought against the Dane, they did not drive the Dane out of Britain. So in 878, Alfred the Great was forced to sign the treaty Peace of Wedmore. According to the treaty, the Danes still owned the “Da

24、nelaw”. Because of the invasion and occupation of Scandinavians, the large part of Britain suffered great influences by the North European culture. Nowadays the names of the north and the east part of Britain were from Scandinavian. And also some peoples names were from Scandinavian such as Jackson,

25、 Thompson, Stevenson, and Johnson and so on. “Rain cats and dogs” stemmed from mythology of the north Europe. The main Gods of Norsemen Odin, dog and wolf symbolized “wind” and cat symbolized “rain”. So cats and dogs had the meaning of violent storms. E.g.: You cannot go out tonight; it is raining c

26、ats and dogs. “Six of one and half a dozen of the other”, 12 binary system was brought in by Danish conquest. And it was used till now.4. The Influences of Normandy Conquest on English IdiomsIn 1066, Edward died. Because he had no son to succeed his throne they chose Harold Godwin to be the successo

27、r. This had enraged the cousin of Edward William, a Normandy duke, who intended to succeed the throne. William led the French army and fleet cross the sea and invaded Britain on September 1066. They defeated the British troops and killed Harold. At last, William entered London and became the King na

28、med William I. It was the Beginning of House of Normandy in British history.“Go Dutch” means pay ones own expense, share expenses. The meaning had been suited by the people and had been used widely in the English daily life. Dutch was either a country or the people in Dutch. People used go Dutch” to

29、 express the meaning of sharing expenses and pay ones own expense to express their rival sense to Dutch.5. The English Idioms Originated from World War IIn 19th century, British shipping and fleet has an overwhelming advantage in terms of the total ton. The hegemony in the sea has been shaken after

30、the First World War, but the total ton ranked the first in the world. America replaced the position of the hegemony in the sea with U.K s after the Second World War, while U.K also took the third rank. Owing to the development of seafaring, there are so many idioms relative to the voyage emerged. “C

31、up of tea” is a common phrase of spoken English. It means the things you like every much. For example, traveling is just his cup of tea. And football is not his cup of tea. This phrase just brought during the First World War and the Second World War. In the Victorian age, Tea was not universal in al

32、l walks of life, especially between the men. At that moment if someone wanted to express the metaphor of somebodys appreciation of something, they were almost rooted from food and drink, such as “somebodys port of beer”. Afterwards the women worker were increasing, they brought the afternoon tea to the office, the men worker gradually joined in the group to have afternoon tea. So tea was considered to be a popular drink. The different taste of tea brought out the expression of “cup of tea”, and was extended to the things be suitable of taste.6. The English Idioms Originated from World War I