 Re: Idiom formation via transliteration
> To kick the bucket could be given a more simple explanation :
> The gallows pole.. a hungman standing on a bucket which is kicked ....
This is a typical folk etymology with no evidence that hangings were actually performed in this manner.
> ... there might be an old correlation between sabot et sabotage.
> Sabot is also ... a bad tool or a device meant to stop a movement.
Sabot is also a device used on railway tracks. Removing it can cause a train to be derailed. However, the original meaning of "sabotage" was to go on strike, that is, to stop working. I believe it is derived from Hebrew shin-bet-tof with the sense of treating a workday as if it were the Sabbath.
> ... the English to push up the daisies and its French equivalent
> Manger les pissenlits par la racine.
This English expression is "metaphorical". The meaning of this phrase can be derived by analysis of its component parts. My assertion that idioms are fromed via transliteration applies only to expressions that cannot be understood via component analysis.
> Compter les moutons to count sheep is still heard in the midnight hour.
This expression has been translated into many languages. I do not know whether the French or English version occurred first, whether one was translated from the other, or whether both were translated from some other source.
> To take the French leave - filer à l'anglaise...
This is a somewhat pejorative expression in English, somewhat like "Dutch treat" (where you pay you own expenses) or the "Spanish disease". In this sense, it is also understandable by component analysis.
Best regards,
Israel "izzy" Cohen  |