HISTORICAL-ETYMOLOGICAL NOTES OF RUSSIAN PHRASEOLOGY

Abstract

It is devoted to the review of the origin of Russian phraseological units. It is proved that there were some reasons why not a phraseological approach prevailed, requiring analysis of the combination in general, but a lexical approach – interpretation of a work, which is supposed to the core word of the phraseological unit. During the review of three phraseological units their etymology is proposed, which is not marked by any phraseological dictionary. It is proved that phraseological unit Олух царя небесного (sainted blockhead) – is a stable combination which is half-loan translation of Turkic title uluγ tängri qaγan – “Great Heavenly King”, where the first component is borrowed and the second and the third ­ are translated. Phraseological unit Пироги с котятами (that's how it is, (loan trans. cakes with kittens)) makes thinking about the reasons why these cakes are certainly with kittens, but not with a tom-cat, cat, or a kitten and why is the filling of these cakes are the kittens that is explained by the foreign influence. Idioms До фени / до феньки, до фонаря, до лампочки (I don’t give a damn about it) are connected with symbolic of the first letter of the alphabet in pre-reformation writing before 1918, which was supposed to be improper and is euphemistic synonym to the meaning of the idiom with offensive language component. The illustrations of the examples of the texts of fiction are given.