This is the method of translating by which every componental part of the source language idiom is retained in the target language unchanged. The componental parts include all notionals and also the lexically charged functionals which contribute to the lexical meaning of the idiomatic/phraseological expression. The notional components also create the main images (the picturesqueness), the expressiveness and the figurative (connotative) meanings of idiomatic expressions. Translating with the help of equivalents is resorted to when dealing with idioms which originate from the same source in both the languages in question. These sources may be:
1) Greek or other mythology: Augean stables 㳺 (, ); Cassandra warning (, , ); Hercules' Pillars (the Pillars of Hercules) ( ); a labour of Sisyphus ( ); Pandora's box / ( ); the Trojan horse ( ); Aladdin's lamp ; between Scilla and Charybdis ;
2) ancient history or literature: an ass in a lion's skin ( ) ; to cross (pass) the Rubicon ( ); the die is thrown/cast ( ); the golden age ( ); / came, I saw, I conquered , , ;
3) the Bible or works based on a biblical plot: to cast the first stone at one ; to cast pearls before swine ; the golden calf /; a lost sheep ; the massacre (slaughter) of innocents ; the ten commandments ; the thirty pieces of silver ; prodigal son .
A great many absolute equivalents originate from contemporary literary or historical sources relating to different languages (mainly to French, Spanish, Danish, German, Italian, Arabic). English: Time is money - ; self made man , ; my house is my castle - . French: after us the deluge ; the fair sex ; the game is worth the candle ; more royalist than the king ; to pull the chestnuts out of the fire ( ) ; one's place in the sun ; Spanish: blue blood ; the fifth column (introduced in English by E. Hemingway)* ' ; to tilt at the windmills (introduced by Cervantes) ; Italian: Dante's inferno ; finita la commedia ; Arabic: Aladdin's lamp ; German: da ist der Hundbegraben ; Sturm und Drang .
Some mots belonging to prominent English and American authors have also turned into regular idiomatic expressions. Due to their constant use in belles-lettres they have become known in many languages. Especially considerable is the amount of Shakespearean mots: better a witty fool than a foolish wit , ; cowards die many times before their deaths ; something is rotten in the state of Denmark, etc. ; vanity fair (J. Bunyan) /; to reign in hell is better than to serve in heaven (J. Milton) , ;
|
|
|
* First used by Emilio Mola Vidal, a nationalist general during the Spanish Civil War.
the banana republic {. Henry) ; the last of the Mohicans ; to bury a hatchet (F. Cooper) ( ); the almighty dollar (W. Irving) ; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today , ; the execution of the laws is more important than the making of them (T. Jefferson) , /; the iron heel (J. London) ' (); gone with the wind(M. Mitchell) / ; fftecold war(W. Lippamn) ; Iron Curtain (W. Churchill) , silent majority (Pres.Nixon), etc.
Translating with the help of monoequivalents, as the absolute equivalents are sometimes called, is very often made use of when dealing with the sentence idioms containing the subject, the predicate, and some other parts of the sentence, though some minor alterations in their structure/word order may not be excluded altogether. Such alterations, however, do not change either the denotative meaning or the componental images, the picturesqueness, expressiveness or connotative meaning of idioms: appetite comes while eaf/ ; kings go mad and the people suffer from it , (cf. , ); the last drop makes the cup run over ; let the cock crow or not, the day will come , , ; money is the sinews of war - ' ; of two evils choose the least ; out of the mouths of babies speaks the truth (wisdom) /; the pen is mightier than the sword ; Caesar's wife must be beyond suspicion (Caesar) / ; the invasion of armies is resisted, the invasion of ideas is not (Hugo) , - , attic salt/wit , , etc.
As has been said, the target language variants of phraseological monoequivalents may sometimes slightly differ in their structure or in the order of words from the source language idioms (cf. let the cock crow or not ). These minor changes in the structural form, however, do not influence in any way the meaning and the expressiveness or picturesqueness of absolute equivalents in the target language.
Not only regular idioms but also many so-called standardized word-combinations, which may often originate in the two languages
|
|
|
from a common source, can be translated by absolute equivalents. Due to this, they retain in the target language the semantic identity and the componental structure of the source language units: to give help / ; to win/gain a victory / ; to make an attempt ; to throw light , etc.
Standardized word-combinations, as will be shown below, can also be translated in some other ways, which is an obvious testimony to the unchangeable inconsistency of the way identified as translation by means of loans (, ),
