TheHistoricalCultureReflectedinEnglishIdioms-最新文档

1、The HistoricalCulture Reflected in EnglishIdioms: Language bears a close relation with culture.Language and culture are intrinsically dependent on each other, and language can reflect the cultural characteristics of a nation. Idioms are the essence of language. Therefore, we can find many cultural c

2、haracteristics of a nation from its idioms. This research paper will mainly study the British history reflected in English idioms.s: Idiom, Language, HistoryLanguage and culture are intrinsically dependent on each other, and they have evolved together through the history. Much of the recent research

3、 work of many scholars has revealed that language is related to cognition, and cognition in turn is related to the cultural settings.Idiom, including metaphorical phrases, slangs, colloquialisms and proverbs, is an important component of language. Some part of language was used repeatedly and accumu

4、lated gradually, and then they became idioms, so idioms can be called the quintessence of language. Any language of a long history would include a great deal of idioms. English is one of the most widely used languages in the world; therefore, it is a kind of language that has rich idioms. Idioms are

5、 the quintessence of language, so they can reflect the enormous impact of culture on language. In this research paper, the relation between English idioms and British history will be mainly discussed.The development of a society has an enormous impact on its language. As time goes on, old words disa

6、ppear gradually, and new words are produced. “In the development language, the traces of history mainly remain in idioms”(Deng, 127).“Reviewing the development of human history, we can find that it is mainly the national migration, national conquest and assimilation, and wars between nations that ex

7、ert the greatest impact of human culture” (Woodward,34).The Roman Conquest is an important event in British history, and it exerted great impact on the English language and British culture.“In 55 B.C., the ancient Romec ommander Julius Caesar came to Britain after he conquered Gaul, but he did notco

8、nflict with the local Celts this time. In 54 B.C., Caesar went to Britain to battle by himself for the second time, and this time he conquered the southeast of Britain ” (Woodward, 89). Though Caesar won the battle this time, Celts did not surrender, and ancient Rome did not exert great impact on Br

9、itish culture, either.“Real roman conquest in British history began in 43 B.C. At that time, Claudius, the emperor of Rome, led 40,000 forces, finally conquered the middle part and the southeast of British three years later” (Woodward, 91). With themilitary occupation, the Roman culture and customs

10、were also penetrating into Britain gradually. Roman clothes, ornaments, potteries and glassware soon prevailed in Britain and the social life began to become romanized. With the change of cultural trend, language began to change. Latin was spread in British quickly, especially in the upper class. Of

11、ficial language, legal terms and commercial terms were all Latin. In a period, people who were not able to speak Latin did not have the right to take on government post. This is why Latin has so much impact on modern English.Romanh ad occupied Britain for 400 years.It is not until 407 A.D. that Roma

12、nsw ithdrawn from Britain because the Roman Empire was beset with difficulties both at home and abroad. Roman left, but their culture and its influence was still in Britain. Even today, we can easily find a lot of idioms related to ancient Roman culture. We can easily find some idioms about Romei n

13、a dictionary: Do in Romea s Romansd o. Romew as not built in a day. All roads lead to Rome. There are also many idioms about Caesar, such as “appeal to Caesar ”, “Great Caesar ” and “render to Caesar the things that are Caesars”.In 49 B.C., Pompeius Magnus attacked Caesar, at that time, there was a

14、river named Rubicon between Gallia Cisaplina, Caesar s territory,and Italy. Caesar led hisforce crossed the river to fight with Pompeius. Before crossing the river, he said:“The die has cast ”, whichmeant we had made the decision. He burnt the boats after crossing the river to encourage his troops t

15、o fight bravely. (Woodward, 100)This story left three English idioms: cross the Rubicon, burn ones boat and the die has cast,they all mean, “tomake decision that cannot be changed in the future”.“Bear the palm ” means “to win, succeed ”, becausein ancient Rome, the fighter who won the competition us

16、ually wore the anadem made by palm to show his victory. “Worth one s salt ” means “worth one s pay, worth having ”, because salt was very precious in ancient Rome, and salarium, a kind of ticket used to buy salt at that time, was part of the military payroll. The word “salary ” isderived from “salar

17、ium ”. For example: Any engineer worth his salt should know how that machine works.Norman Conquest is another historical event that exerted great impact on English. According to the book A History of England, Norman Conquest was like this: In 1042, the British prince Edward, who went into exile in N

18、ormandy for a long time, was recalled to return to Britain to ascent the throne. After he became the king, Edward reinstated many Normandy feudal noble and formed an alliance with Duck of Normandy to oppose the British noble. During the 24 years when Edward was in power, French became the main commu

19、nication tool of the upper class. In 1066, Edward passed away, but he did not have a son to succeed the throne, so Harold Godwin was elected to be the King, which enraged William, Edward s cousin, the Duck of Normandy, who planned to succeed to the throne. On September 28, 1066,William led the Frenc

20、h army and fleet crossed the sea, invaded Britain and defeated British army totally. He killed Harold and was crowned the king known as William I. The House of Normandy in Britain began (Woodward, 225).Norman Conquest made a tremendous impact on English. It made French one of the three main sources

21、of modern English, and at the same time, French culture influenced British society greatly. The feudal noble regarded being able to speak French as a fashion, wearing French clothes, eating French dishes as the symbol of their status. The influence of Norman Conquest towards English is mainly reflec

22、ted in English idioms, because many idioms are metaphrased from French. We can find a lot of examples.“Take heart ” is the metaphrase of the French idiom “prendre coeur ”.“Stew in one s own juice ” is the matephrase of “cuire dans son jus ” and its meaning is“to make theconsequences of ones own acti

23、ons ”. For example, the last time I lent money after she had spent all her own she just wasted it, so this time I let her stew in her own juice.“Return to one s muttons ” was from a sentence of a French poem: “Revenon a nos mouton ”, which means, “Letus go back to our sheep”. The shepherd and his gi

24、rlfriend were on the farm, but they had to return to their sheep at last, so this idiom means“go back to reality”.“Put ones eggs in one basket ” is from “mettre tous ses oeufs dans le memep anier ”, which means, “invest all ones money in one thing ”. For example, to buy stock in a single company is to put all your eggs in one basket.“Have the courage of ones opinion ” is from “ avoir le courage de son opinion”.“Qui vive ” in the idiom “on the qui vive ” is French, and it means, “Who is that ”