МЕЖЪЯЗЫКОВОЕ СОПОСТАВЛЕНИЕ ЛИНГВОЦВЕТОВЫХ ИДИОМАТИЧЕСКИХ ЕДИНИЦ С КОМПОНЕНТОМ BLACK / SCHWARZ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ АНГЛИЙСКОГО И НЕМЕЦКОГО ЯЗЫКОВ)

Introduction

Idioms containing a colour component in their structure are represented in both phraseological funds of the English and German languages. Colour has a unique meaning for different languages and cultures, as in the process of the reality categorization peoples often perceived colours differently.   

The objective of the research

Our earlier research results show the predominance of black in the idiomatic view of the world of the English language [6, p. 14], the same is true for the German one [7, p. 14]. Due to this fact the objective of the present paper is to find out a degree of similarity in meaning “invariants”, forms of the idioms and connotations in both phraseological funds.   

Material and research method

For the present research, idioms were chosen with the help of continuous sampling method from monolingual dictionaries in both languages [9-13]. On the whole, 390 units were found: 250 in English and 185 in German. Black/schwarz belongs to focal colours [2, p. 8]. It is of great significance for both cultures reflecting real as well as cultural views of the world [3, 4, 5].

Results and discussion

Black / schwarz is a macrocolour. 23 % of all idioms with colour components from 250 English belong to black and 21 % from 185 German units belong to the same colour. Thus, black and schwarz are situated in the core of the idiomatic view of the world of both English and German languages.

First of all, idioms having similar meaning invariant and the same inner form in both languages were discovered: black is associated with something illegal – black market, der schwarze Markt (German) – the illegal buying and selling, at high prices, of goods which are scarce, strictly regulated or in great demand. Black box, der Blackbox (German) – a flight recorder in an aircraft. Actually, this device is usually of the orange or the red colour, as it allows finding it in the wreckage easier. Black hole, Schwarzes Loch (German) – in the direct meaning it is a region in space, believed to be formed when a large star has collapsed at the end of its life, with such a strong gravitational pull that not even light waves can escape from it. But metaphorically, it is used to denote any place, region or thing in which something (items, people, etc) are irretrievably lost. Black widow, die Schwarze Witwe (German) – any of various venomous spiders, the female of which commonly eats the male after mating.

The Black Death and der Schwarze Tod (German) were used to denote plague. Black is a token of mourning: black-robed, eine Frau in Schwarz (German) – a woman in a black dress. The colour is also associated with sorrow, sadness, something negative or unpleasant: to paint smth. in black colours, etw. schwarz  malen (German). 

Black is used to denote something secret which can be used against other people: a list of suspects or the excluded from the list – black list and die schwarze Liste (German). One more identical idiom of biblical origin means a member of a family or a group disapproved by the others: black sheep and das schwarze Schaf (German).  

In both cultures black is connected with dark forces, sorcery and witchcraft: black magic in English and die schwarze Kunst in German. It supposedly invokes the power of the devil to perform evil. In the German language another meaning of this unit is typography.

Idioms with the component black are reflected in the idiomatic names of natural recourses: black gold for oil and schwarze Diamanten (German) – black diamonds for coal in German.

Black money, das Schwarzgeld (German) – ‘dirty’ money – is any money on which tax is not paid to the government. The process of transferring this money is called laundering. Black coffee or tea, Schwarzer Kaffee (German) – means coffee or tea without added milk. To blackball, die schwärze Kugel ziehen (German) means:   1) to vote against (a candidate for membership of something), originally by pulling a black ball in the ballot box; 2) in English, it has an additional meaning – to refuse to see or speak to someone. Black PR, schwarze PR (German) – a smear campaign. Black humour, schwarzer Humor (German) is a ​humorous way of ​looking at or ​treating something that is ​serious or ​sad.

To the second group belong idioms having similar meaning invariants but different inner form. Black and blue (colloq) of a person or of a person’s skin: covered in bruises; ein blaues Auge (German) – a bruise, (literally, a blue eye); mit einem blauen Augen davonkommen – to get off with a bruise only. Black economy – shadow economy, in German – Parallelwirtschaft (parallel economy). Black ice, Blitzeis (German), (literally, sparkling ice) – a thin transparent layer of ice that forms on road surfaces, making driving hazardous. Currency black market, Winkelbank (German) – literally, a bank on the corner. A black soul, eine dunkle Seele (German) – literally, a dark soul.

In the English language black is connected with blackmailing: to put the black on smb. (colloq) – to use threats to make someone do something. The colour is also associated with evil forces: black mess – a blasphemous ceremony parodying the Christian mess, in which Satan is worshipped rather than God. In the German language it is connected with the Catholic church and the Party of Christian Democrats: schwarz sein (literally, be black). The Holy Week in German is called die Schwarze Woche (literally, the Black Week). In English, black comedy is wicked or sinister, grim or macabre. 

Phraseological units not similar in meaning along with specific expressive means used to form the meaning metaphorically belong to the third group. In the English language we can find the following ones: Black Maria (colloq) – a police van for transporting prisoners; the Black Country – the industrialized West Midlands region of England; blackleg – a person who refuses to take part in a strike, or who works in a striker’s place during a strike; black spot – an area where an adverse social condition is prevalent: an unemployment black spot. Black and white – either good or bad, right or wrong, etc, with no compromise. The verb to blacken has the meaning of damaging or ruining someone’s reputation or good name. A blackshirt was a member of the Italian Fascist Party before and during World War II. Black Friday is the ​Friday after Thanksgiving, when ​shops ​reduce the ​price of ​goods in ​order to ​attract ​customers who ​want to ​start ​their​  Christmas ​shopping. Black knight is a ​company or ​person that ​tries to ​buy a ​company whose ​owners do not want to ​sell to them. A day when something sad, unpleasant or disastrous happens to somebody is a black day. An angry or a disapproving expression on somebody’s face is a black look. When something shows no signs of hope or improvement it looks black.

 In the German language these idioms include: der Schwarze Mann (literally, the black man) – a scarecrow; der schwarze Peter (black Peter) – a scapegoat; ins Schwarze treffen – to score the bull’s-eye. Schwarze Ware (a black product) – a commodity from the black market; schwarz arbeiten – to work illegally; die schwarze Reaktion (black reaction) – forces of reaction.

In some cases black loses its negative connotation and has a positive one: to be in the black is the credit side of an account, the state of not being in debt, eg to a bank; to be profitable; in den schwarzen Zahlen sein (German) – to work gaining profit (literally, to be in black figures); schwarze Zahlen  schreiben (German) – to gain profit (literally, to write black figures). It is connected with the fact that debts in financial documents were given in red and profit – in black.   

Conclusion

According to the degree of similarity in meaning “invariants” and forms of the idioms three groups of units with the component black / schwarz in their structure were found: 1) idioms having similar meaning invariant and the same inner form; 2) idioms having similar meaning invariants but different inner form; 3) idioms not similar in meaning along with specific expressive means used to form the meaning metaphorically. A significant part of idioms do not have analogues in other languages.