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1、On the Infulence of Historical Development and Geography Environment on the Formation of English IdiomsIntrocductionWhen opening Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, one can see such an entry: “Idiom (n.) Phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its indivi
2、dual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit.” English is a language particularly rich in idioms. Lots of cultural information is embodied in idioms. In some senses, idioms are the reflection of the environment, life, historical culture, etc. They are commonly used in all types of language, i
3、nformal and formal, spoken and written. In brief, idioms are fixed phrases. They go through the test of history and cannot be separated. They are an important part of the general vocabulary of every language. English idioms are usually widely and commonly used all over the world. They contain brief
4、structures and profound meanings, and are also a group of words with the meaning different from the literal one. As an English learner, we study English everyday; learning its literary works, grammatical functions, use them and so on. Sometimes, we come cross some sentences that we cant understand,
5、such as, “There is a black sheep” or “Dont be a bad apple”, “go over my head” , “Dont put your problems at my doorstep”, “just bear with me”, “heap coal of fire on ones head” etc. Of course we can comprehend the meaning of every single word. Why do we have difficulty in understanding them? Because o
6、f a low level of linguistic competence in the target language, people who learn English as a second language are at a distinct disadvantage in understanding English idioms. We must know the origins of English idioms so that we can learn English well.The research to English idioms has a long history.
7、 Scholarsstudy focuses on the following aspects: the oringins of the idioms, comparison between English idioms and Chinese idioms, and the translation of English idioms. Whats more, they talk about the idioms through its notion of culture. Others schoolars pay attention to the structural, semantic f
8、unction and rhetoric of idioms. The formation of English idioms is influenced by such cultural factors as geographical conditions, historical developments, customs, religious beliefs, literature and arts of the British nation. So I decided to focuse on the influence of historical development and geo
9、graphy envirnment on the formation of English idioms.This paper has four parts. The first part is about the definition and features of English idioms, The second part focuses on the influence of historical development. The third part is about idioms originating from geography envirment. The fourth p
10、art serves as the conclusion. This paper will help the readers have a better understand of English idioms.1. The definition and features of English idioms1. Definitionwhat are idioms? “Idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences” and “idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable
11、from their literal meanings of individual elements.” (Zhang Weiyou, 174) “An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is different or sometimes impossible to guess by looking at the meanings of the individual words it contains.” (A S Honrnby, 2004, B19) such as, “black sheep” (害群之马), “Put a sock in it” (住口),
12、 “go over my head” (无法理解).“Most phrasal lexemes are idioms, especially a sequence of words which is semantically and often syntactically restricted.” (Hu Zhuanglin, 106) E.g. “Dont put your problems at my doorstep” (归咎于我), “do in Rome as the Romans do” (入乡随俗), “as poor as a church mouse” (一贫如洗)2. Fe
13、atures1.structural stability Many English idioms are characterized by structural invariability. Their form is often fixed. The word in idiomatic expressions cannot be deleted, added to, in the idiom live from hand to mouth, it is impossible to say live from hand to the mouth or live from a hand to a
14、 mouth; in the idiom to kick the bucket, if the word “bucket” is replaced by “pail”, the meaning of the idiom will no longer mean“die”. 2. semantic unity Idioms are mainly characteized by their semantic unity. Semantic unity means an idiom functioning as a unit of meaning, and must be learned as a w
15、hole. That is, the meaning of the idiom cannot be deduced from the literal meaning of its member words. So, pull ones socks up not at all connected with “socks”, it means to cheer up, work harder, as in “If you want to be considered for promotion next year , youd better pull your socks up.” If you w
16、ant to be promoted next year, you should work harder. Likewise, the meaning of know where the pinches has nothing to do with the meaning of the separate words, it means to know the difficulties. 3.figuraive features Idioms are often forcible, terse and vivid, because they are used figuratively. Idioms are an important thetorical device in language, and they incorporate various figures of speech, among them, most are similes and meta
