The Historical Culture Reflected in English Idioms

英語習語中所蘊含的歷史文化知識

摘 要：語言和文化互相依存，有著非常密切的聯系，語言也可以反映一個民族的文化特征。習語是一個民族語言的精髓，所以，習語中蘊含著豐富的文化特征。本文將著重研究英語習語中所反映出來的英國歷史文化。得出的結論為英語學習者在學習習語時，不僅要學習它們的字面意思，更要學習其中蘊涵的文化，后者比前者更重要。

Abstract: 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 characteristics of a nation from its idioms. This research paper will mainly study the British history reflected in English idioms.

關鍵詞：習語，語言，歷史

Key Words: Idiom， Language， History

Language and culture are intrinsically dependent on each other， and they have evolved together through the history. Much of the recent research 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 accumulated 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 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 disappear 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 exert 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 Rome commander Julius Caesar came to Britain after he conquered Gaul， but he did not conflict 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 British 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 the military occupation， the Roman culture and customs 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. Official 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.

Roman had occupied Britain for 400 years. It is not until 407 A.D. that Romans withdrawn 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 Rome in a dictionary: Do in Rome as Romans do. Rome was 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 Caesar’s”.

In 49 B.C.， Pompeius Magnus attacked Caesar， at that time， there was a river named Rubicon between Gallia Cisaplina， Caesar’s territory， and Italy. Caesar led his force crossed the river to fight with Pompeius. Before crossing the river， he said: “The die has cast”， which meant we had made the decision. He burnt the boats after crossing the river to encourage his troops to fight bravely. (Woodward， 100)

This story left three English idioms: cross the Rubicon， burn one’s boat and the die has cast， they all mean， “to make decision that cannot be changed in the future”.

“Bear the palm” means “to win， succeed”， because in ancient Rome， the fighter who won the competition usually 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” is derived from “salarium”. 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 Normandy 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 communication 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 French 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 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 reflected 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 the consequences of one’s own actions”. 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， “Let us go back to our sheep”. The shepherd and his girlfriend were on the farm， but they had to return to their sheep at last， so this idiom means “go back to reality”.

“Put one’s eggs in one basket” is from “mettre tous ses oeufs dans le meme panier”， which means， “invest all one’s 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 one’s 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”. But when it came to English， it means， “be careful”. For example， some of the men have never done this kind of work before， so you have got to be on the qui vive for any mistakes.

Except for history， idioms also bear close relationships with customs， religions and literature. Therefore， when learning English idioms， English learners should pay attention not only to the literal meaning of idioms， but also to the culture reflected in them. Culture is like an iceberg， and idiom is like the tip of the iceberg. Take idioms as the penetration point of learning the culture， and pay more attention to the culture reflected in idioms when learning them， then you will benefit a lot from the idioms.

Works Cited：

1、Woodward， E. L. A History if England. London: Methuen E Co. Ltd， 1984.

2、鄧炎昌，劉潤清：《語言與文化》，北京：外語教學與研究出版社，1991年。