8.6.2 Borrowed Phraseological Units

Many English idioms are connected with ancient mythology. Achilles’ heel or the heel of Achilles (a weak point or a small fault in a person or a system that might cause a failure) refers to Achilles in Homer’s Iliad. As a child, Achilles’ mother, the goddess Thetis, dipped him in the magic waters of the river Styx to coat his body so that no weapon could penetrate; however, she was holding him by the heel, and this part became vulnerable. During the Trojan War, Achilles was killed in a battle after being wounded in the heel (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 6). The phraseological unit between Scylla and Charybdis (between two equally dangerous perils) originates from the Greek myth of two monsters that lived on either side of the sea between Italy and Sicily. Scylla was also believed to be a rock, and Charybdis was a whirlpool. Sailors who tried to avoid one danger ran afoul of the other (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 79).

Some English phraseological units are borrowed from ancient Rome. A bed of roses (a period or situation of peace, pleasure, or happiness) is often used with negation; for example, life is not a bed of roses, but it can also be used in the sentence, “Her job is a bed of roses.” This phraseological unit appeared in connection with the custom of rich people of ancient Rome to cover their beds with petals of roses. The phraseological unit to burn one’s bridges behind one (to make decisions that cannot be changed in the future) may have originally been burn one’s boats behind one. Roman generals, including Caesar, did burn their boats after invading a land. It was done to impress upon their legions that there could be no retreat. Later bridges were burned for the same reason (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 136).

The British borrowed phraseological units from French as well. The phraseological unit to burn the candle at both ends (to lead a busy life during the day and also to go to bed late at night, especially to have a full social life) is the translation of the French Bruloient la chandelle par less deux bouts. Originally the phrase meant ‘to waste material wealth,’ but then it acquired a more common meaning of wasting of one’s strength (p.135). If someone daydreams or makes plans that will never come true, we can say that he or she builds castles in the air or builds castles in Spain. The phrase came to English from French un chateau en Espagne (a castle in Spain). The French dreamers were building their castles in far off Spain (p. 158). Many English phraseological units borrowed from French are calques, but these phrases came to French from Latin: familiarity breeds contempt (English) < la familiarité engendre le mépris (French) <Nimia familiaritas contemptum parit (Latin).

Phraseological units borrowed from German are not numerous. The unit a place under the sun (a position that is favorable to a person’s future or in which he or she receives proper recognition for his or her work or abilities) was made popular by its use in a speech delivered in Hamburg by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1911. This expression was translated from French la place au soleil to English but soon forgotten, and again it was translated from German Ein Platz an der Sonne into English a place under the sun. The etymology of this unit is doubtless, but the coincidence between German and English idioms does not mean that it was loaned from German into English. On the contrary, the influence of English upon German has been greater .

Many American phraseological units have penetrated the British language, but some of them are intralingual borrowings. The American phraseological unit climb a sour tree (go to blazes; go to hell) was first recorded in the early 1900 but is probably older (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 185). Some authorities say that an eager beaver (an overly zealous person, one who tries to impress others with enthusiasm and hard work) originated during World War II. It applied to recruits who volunteered for absolutely everything (Flavell & Flavell, 2003, p.79).