Phrase
Sayings belong to the established linguistic expressions ( phraseologisms ). Mostly they are pictorial expressions. However, the two terms are often used synonymously.
Grammatical Features
The linguist Lutz Röhrich describes proverbial idioms as word group lexemes . They do not stand on their own and have to be supplemented for use within a sentence. At least they lack the subject, such as B. with the phrase " waving the fence post ".
Sayings are not sentences, but predicative phrases. In collections they are always given in the infinitive form , e.g. B. "fishing in troubled waters". When completing the subject, they are bent accordingly, e.g. B. "He fishes in murky waters".
Examples
Phrase | context | meaning |
---|---|---|
Have a pig | You may have had a pig! | to be lucky |
Bring it to an end | Here I draw a line | To end something |
have eaten up something | Has he messed up something again? | have done something |
Show your colors | It's time to show your colors | show which side you are on |
have a sock shot | He's got a sock shot | not quite in your mind |
to tie someone up with a bear | A bear was tied to you | to fool someone |
in cahoots with someone | You are both in cahoots! | work with someone |
have a board in front of your head | You have a board in front of your head | to not understand something |
See also
- Idiom (idiom)
- Winged word (with list of winged words)
- List of German idioms
- Phrase
literature
- Wilhelm Borchardt: The proverbial idioms in German vernacular explained according to meaning and origin. JA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1925, 6th edition. Complete edit again by Georg Schoppe, first edition 1888.
- Wolfgang Hug: Know where Barthel gets the must. Small cultural history of winged words. Wochenschau Verlag (b | d edition), Schwalbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-941264-05-2 .
- Rudolf Köster: DUDEN sayings. Origin and meaning. Bibliographisches Institut & FA Brockhaus, Mannheim 2007, ISBN 3-411-70502-7 .
- Lutz Röhrich : The dictionary of proverbial sayings. Digital Library, Volume 42 (CD-ROM). Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89853-442-1 .
- Walter Schmidkunz : True wisdom - Bavarian-rural proverbs and sayings. Gebr. Richters publishing house, Erfurt 1936, DNB 575455144 .
Web links
Commons : Sayings - collection of images, videos, and audio files
Wiktionary: phrase - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
- Dictionary for idioms, idioms, idiomatic expressions and word combinations
- German proverbs and idioms
- English and German idioms
- Biblical sayings
- Etymology of Sayings
- redensarten.net
- Magazin Deutsch - Der Stilberater: Sayings and idioms . ( Memento of March 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Sayings and idioms as the spice of a language
- The Lexicon of Sayings