Phraseology

Cell

1. The number of red blood cells is abnormal in his blood analysis.

2. The monk retired to his cell.

3. To produce electricity they used alkaline battery cells.

4. The police arrested a terrorist cell.

5. The old peasant showed the cells of a honeycomb to the children.

It should be mentioned that the problem of established strict and reliable criteria for the distinction of different words identical in sound form and different meanings of the same word is hard to solve: synchronically there exists no universal criterion between polysemy and homonymy.

 

is a branch of lexicology dealing with word-groups consisting of two or more words, which taken together, mean something different from the individual words in this group when they stand alone: at the eleventh hour (в последнюю минуту), to cook smb’s goose (погубить кого-либо), thirty pieces of silver (цена предательства), the skeleton in the cupboard (постыдный семейный секрет); a white elephant (ненужная, губительная роскошь).

The way in which the words are put together is often odd, illogical or even grammatically incorrect. Other word-combinations are completely regular and logical in their grammar and vocabulary.

There are different terms to name these word-groups: phraseologisms, set-expressions, idioms, phraseological units. The term idiom is too polysemantic, it may denote a mode of expression peculiar to a language, it may be applied to a word (dog-days), groups of words (deaf as a beetle – глухой, как пень), it may also denote a form of expression peculiar to a certain individual, a district (local idiom), a country. The etymology of the word is GK. idioma (property, from “idios” – own, private).

Such word-groups are not created in speech but used as ready-made units being contrasted to free phrases and semi-fixed combinations. In free phrases we can permit substitution of any element: to act well, to do well, to act badly, to do smth. In semi-fixed combinations we can change only one element: to go to bed, to go to school, to go to courts. No such substitution is possible in set-expressions: they are units of fixed context: busy as a bee, to take a French leave, to buy a pig in a poke, red tape. To cut bread but to cut a poor figure (жалко выглядеть).

 

The origin of phraseological units

There are two origins of phraseological units: native and borrowed. Borrowed phraseological units may be borrowed from other languages by translation or from other variants of English (mainly American), or borrowed in the original unassimilated form.

I. Native phraseological units are connected with English customs, traditions, national realia, historical facts:

By bell, book and candle (jocular) – finally, irrevocably (бесповоротно), one of the forms of excommunication (отлучение от церкви) which ends with the following words: Doe to the book, quench the candle, ring the bell!

Baker’s dozen – thirteen instead of twelve. The extra one was the outcome of the imposition of a heavy penalty for underweight. To be on the safe side the baker gave the retailer an extra loaf to the dozen (called in – bread) to avoid all risk of incurring the fine.

To tell it to the bees – a custom many centuries old in country districts, is to tell the bees when a birth occurs in the family, and to hang a piece of black crepe over the hive when a death occurs. The superstition attached to the custom is that unless the bees are told they will not stay. The superstition comes probably, from the belief, as far back as the ancient Greeks, that there was some connection between bees and souls.

To jump over the broomstick – the phrase means “to marry informally” Broomstick is connected with brom, the name for the bit in a horse’s bridle. Thus, to jump over the broom is to avoid the restraint of a full marriage service, and to wed quietly and informally.

To eat humble pie – this phrase dates back to the old days of feasting off venison, when banquets were given in Baronial Halls. The lords and ladies dined off the flesh of the deer. The huntsmen and the servants of the household had to be content with what were called the “umbles” – the heart, liver and the entrails. These were made into huge pies. Hence, to eat umble pie meant that you were not of sufficient importance to suite with the household. You were, in point of fact, an inferior person.

II. Phraseological Units connected with English realia:

Blue stocking – a derogative term for a studious woman, which came from a literary club formed by a Mrs. Montague in 1840. Benjamin Stillngfleet, who wore blue stockings, was a regular visitor, and blue stockings became the recognized emblem of membership.

To carry coals to Newcastle – cf. ездить в Тулу со своим самоваром, i.e. to carry goods and materials to places where there are plenty of them.

To come to the end of ones tether – to come to the limit. The simple origin in the rope or chain, by which a horse, or other grass-feeding animals, was tethered to a stake. It could graze only in the confines allowed by the tether. There, its resources of food or exercise ended.