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ANALELE ŞTIINŢIFICE ALE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE STAT „B. P. HASDEU” DIN CAHUL, VOL. X, 2014
COLOUR-RELATED IDIOMS: CONNOTATION AND SYMBOLISM
Ina PARA,
Catedra de limbi moderne
În toate limbile există numeroase expresii idiomatice în care cromatica joacă un rol
important și semnificația acestor expresii este foarte mult influențată de asociațiile dintre
culori și realitățile culturale, etnice și religioase ale unui popor.
Pornind de la premiza că percepția culorilor este aceeași, în timp ce interpretarea lor
este diferită în limbile engleză și română, articolul prezent se concentrează asupra analizei
sensurilor conotative ale termenilor cromatici în cele două limbi, evidențiind, astfel,
similaritățile și diferențele nuanțelor semantice ale acestora.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the similarities and differences in the use of
certain colours in idiomatic expressions as well as their connotative meaning in English and
Romanian. Languages are full of colour-related expressions which refer to ideas that lie
beyond the literal extensions of colour denotation.
The interpretation of colours depends on cultural aspects and different ways of
expressing feelings and emotions. Different cultures developed correspondences between
colours and certain associations they create. In such a way, the national and cultural attitude
towards different colours is mirrored in the figurative expressions of a language.
A colour and an idiom with that colour can be interpreted in totally different ways.
According to Eiseman “from the time of early infancy, the human mind begins associating
colours with certain emotions and experiences, and individuals retain them throughout their
life. Colours convey meanings in two primary ways - natural associations and psychological
(or cultural) symbolism” [1]. Colour idioms are symbols of a nation‘s customs, traditions,
manners, and character. They reflect the way particular people think, imagine, act or believe.
According to Eiseman, “each colour has distinctive ideas and emotions attached to
them” [1]. Colours and symbols may have positive associations or negative connotations.
Ryan claims that “it has been known for a long time that colours influence the way
people feel and have a great impact even on emotions because people often associate colours
with happy or sad events” [2].
According to Mazurova, “concepts represented by means of colour terms are the
constituent parts of English idioms. We proceed from the fact that colour perception is similar
for all people, whereas its interpretation is different among different nations” [3]. Mazurova
states that colour concepts reflect ethnical mentality and the meaning of idioms is greatly
influenced by either symbolic or historical colour associations. Mazurova claims that “the
meaning of such idioms as black dog (melancholy and depression), black ox (misfortune), for
example, is determined by negative cultural associations connected with the black colour” [3].
Brown states that “if a language has only two colours – and all languages have at least
two colours – they are always white and black; if a language has three colours, the one added
is red; if a fourth is added, it will be either green or yellow; when a fifth is added, it will then
include both green and yellow; the sixth added is blue; the seventh added is brown; and if an
eighth or more terms are added, it or they will be purple, pink, orange, or gray” [4, p. 13 - 14].
Wyler claims that “the group of colour terms that freely generates figurative phrases and
idioms is formed by five colour terms: red, blue, green and the two a-chromatic colour names
white and black” [5, p. 143].
In both languages (English and Romanian), most of the colours appearing in idioms
tend to evoke both positive and negative associations. The study, adopting colour-based
idioms, explores the uses of white, black, red, blue, green, and yellow; the most common
colours that are used figuratively. In order to analyse some of the shades of meaning of the
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ANALELE ŞTIINŢIFICE ALE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE STAT „B. P. HASDEU” DIN CAHUL, VOL. X, 2014
most frequent colours, some examples were selected from various British and American
literary works.
White is the colour that indicates purity, cleanliness, and neutrality. In English and
Romanian white is also associated with reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace and
innocence. For instance:
I treated you white. [6, p. 822]. – Te-am tratat bine [7, p. 294].
On the other hand, white is associated with paleness, bloodlessness, lack of vigour, and
death, state of shock, fear, and anger.
The following examples come to emphasize negative connotations of the colour white:
When he saw my white face he gave a little chirrup of joy and came running up towards
me [8, p. 38]. – Când a văzut că eram alb, a ciripit de bucurie și a alergat spre mine [9].
When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowly missed us, she turned so white that I
feared that she was about to faint [8, p. 17]. – La succinta descriere a morții tatălui său,
Domnișoara Morstan s-a făcut albă ca moartea, și pentru o clipă mi-a fost teamă că va leșina
[9, p. 17].
“The matter was not mentioned," Lake repeated. His face had gone very white [10, p.
10]. – Despre aşa ceva n-a făcut nici o remarcă, repetă Lake. Faţa lui se albi ca varul [11, p.
44].
Douglas Gold was staring at the convulsed face of the woman in the chair. He had gone
dead white [10, p. 103]. – Douglas Gold se holba la faţa convulsionată a femeii din scaun. Se
făcuse alb ca varul [11, p. 16].
In the examples above the colour white was translated by its Romanian counterpart –
alb.
The following examples illustrate how one and the same idiom is translated differently
in distinct contexts:
Tom turned as white as a sheet [12, p. 322]. – Tom se făcu alb ca varul [13, p. 108].
You’re as white as a sheet, he says [14, p. 85]. – Eşti alba ca o coală de hârtie, zice
[15, p. 119].
The word white is rendered into Romanian by the word palid as well:
“She does look white,” said Hannah. “As white as clay or death,” was responded [16,
p. 643]. – E tare palidă, spuse Hannah. E palidă ca lutul ori ca moartea, i se răspunse [17, p.
408].
In English, the expression white-livered came from the old notion that livers of cowards
were bloodless:
For Bardolph, he is white-livered and red-faced; by the means whereof a' faces it out,
but fights not [18, p. 36]. – Bardolph are ficatul alb și nasul rosu, astfel că face el pe
grozavul, dar de bătut nu se bate niciodată [19, p. 372].
The idiom was translated literally into Romanian.
If Foggartism were killed tomorrow, he, with his inherent distrust of theories and ideas,
his truly English pragmatism, could not help feeling that Michael would be well rid of a white
elephant [20]. – Dacă mâine foggartismul ar fi ucis, el, cu neîncrederea lui înnăscută faţă de
teorii şi idei, cu pragmatismul său autentic englez, n-ar putea decât să se bucure că Michael
a scăpat uşor de o belea [21, p. 86].
The meaning of the idiom white elephant can be extended to “something that has cost a
lot of money but has no useful purpose” [22]. This is a great example to illustrate that the
meaning of an idiom cannot be understood by analysing the associations of the colour name.
No equivalent colour-related idiom appears in Romanian data for this expression and the most
suitable translation is belea.
Black has negative associations, such as sadness, remorse, anger, fear, evil, anonymity,
unhappiness and disgrace in both languages:
A shockingly ugly old creature, miss; almost as black as a crock. Jane Eyre [16, p.364].
– O batrână grozav de urâtă , domnișoară, neagră ca tăciunele [17, p. 232].
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ANALELE ŞTIINŢIFICE ALE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE STAT „B. P. HASDEU” DIN CAHUL, VOL. X, 2014
The English simile was translated by a simile into Romanian as well, but the Romanian
colour negru is compared to tăciune.
The connotation of the verb to blacken is “ to spoil someone's reputation” [22] and it
was translated into Romanian a ponegri:
All Meryton seemed striving to blacken the man who, but three months before, had been
almost an angel of light [23]. – Întregul Meryton părea ca se străduieşte să-l ponegrească pe
acela care, cu trei luni mai înainte, fusese, pentru ei, aproape ca un înger al luminii [24, p.
114].
Eiseman claims that in every spoken language red is the first colour repeated after black
or white. According to him, the red colour increases enthusiasm, excitement, stimulates
energy, etc [1].
As far as the emotions are concerned, both English and Romanian use red to refer to
embarrassment, shame, anger or confusion. The following example illustrates this fact:
At last I got up to my own room, quite red to think how I had been holding forth, and
then I heard a soft tap at my door [25, p. 332]. – În sfârşit, m-am urcat în camera mea, roşind
de ruşine când mă gândeam ce mai discursuri ţinusem, şi-atunci iată că am auzit o uşoară
bătaie în uşa mea [26, p. 269].
The idiom red-handed is not used to talk about murder or bloody crimes, but
about someone found in the act of doing something illegal [22] (a prinde pe cineva în flagrant
delict):
I did but tie one fellow, who was taken red-handed and in the fact, to the horns of a wild
stag, which gored him to death in five minutes and I had as many arrows shot at me as there
were launched against yonder target at Ashby [27, p. 223]. – Prin pădurea aceea sunt destui
fugari care-mi poartă pică pentru că păzesc cu atâta străşnicie căprioarele. într-o zi am
poruncit ca un haramin de-al lor, prins asupra faptului, să fie legat de coarnele unui
cerbsălbatic, care l-a sfârtecat cât ai zice "pis"! De-atunci, tâlharii au azvârlit asupră-mi
cam tot atâtea săgeţi câte aufost trase în turnirul de la Ashby! [28, p. 185].
The pure idiom red herring, like white elephant, is culturally restricted. So, by
extension, “a fact, idea or subject that takes people’s attention away from the central point
being considered” [22] is a red herring:
Because he more than suspected he had his father’s voice to bank his hopes on which it
was quite on the cards he had so it would be just as well, by the way no harm, to trail the
conversation in the direction of that particular red herring just to... [6, p. 1080] – Pentru că
avea el așa un fel de bănuiala că avea și el vocea lui taică-su ca să-i îndreptățească
asemenea speranțe si lucrul părea limpede că o are asa incât n-ar fi fost rău deloc, n-avea ce
să strice, să-mpingă discuția înspre această chestie doar ca să...[7, p. 375]
The idiom was translated into Romanian as the neutral word chestie, the dictionary
meaning being mijloc de diversiune, de abatere a atenţiei.
In the modern English-speaking culture, blue comprises a wide range of semantic
meanings and it is rich from the point of view of its connotative values. It conveys peace,
tranquility, harmony, trust and even confidence. In Romanian it designates melancholy,
sadness, gloom (,,e (cam) albastru – e (cam) rău, (cam) neplăcut, situația e (cam) dificilă”
[29]).
Positive associations of blue seem to be rather rare. However, blue does have a positive
figurative meaning in the phrase blue-blooded describing someone “who has been born into
a family that belongs to the highest social class” [22] which is translated into Romanian cu
sânge albastru:
And round Crum were still gathered a forlorn hope of blue-bloods with a plutocratic
following [30, p. 416]. - Iar în jurul lui Crum erau adunaţi încă vreo câţiva tineri cu sânge
albastru şi descendenţi din plutocrati [31, p 148].
It is interesting to note that negru is the colour of depression in Romanian, while blue is
preferred in English.
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ANALELE ŞTIINŢIFICE ALE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE STAT „B. P. HASDEU” DIN CAHUL, VOL. X, 2014
During the war years she had had Ellen to visit when she felt blue [32]. – În timpul
războiului, când era prost-dispusă, se ducea la Ellen [33].
Because any time I'm feeling blue, or puzzled, what I do, I just invite a few people to
come visit me...[34, p. 43] – Pentru că de fiecare dată când sunt abătut sau derutat, uite ce
fac – invit câteva persoane să vină să-mi facă o vizită....[35, p. 106]
Absurd! Of course you couldn't! You're seeing blue to-night, old thing [20]. – Absurd!
Nici vorbă să pleci singură! Astă-seară eşti pesimistă, fetiţo [21p. 292].
Why are you blue? [32] — De ce ai gânduri negre? [33]
The Romanian equivalent does not include any idea of colour being translated as a fi
prost-dispus, abătut, pessimist or a avea gânduri negre.
Metonyms stemming from blue include once in a blue moon, used to describe “very rare
and unusual events” [22]. This concept is expressed by different imagery in Romanian – la
Paștele cailor.
Till Mr Right comes along, then meet once in a blue moon [6, p. 674]. – Pâna când
apare dl. Cutare și pe urmă se mai văd la Paștele cailor [7, p. 247].
Green, as Smith states, “occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye
than most colours, and is second only to blue as a favourite colour. Green is the pervasive
colour in the natural world, making it an ideal backdrop in interior design because we are so
used to seeing it everywhere” [36]. Green is used to refer to vegetation or greenery. Its literal
association can be extended to numerous figurative uses like: young and tender, youthful,
new, but also: immature, inexperienced or undeveloped.
In collocation with the word heart, green acquires positive connotation:
He is such a cheery fellow. No worldliness about him. Fresh and green-hearted! [25, p.
516] – E un tovarăş aşa de vesel! Şi deloc interesat. Spontan şi cu idei sănătoase! [26, p. 421]
There is the English preference for green as the colour of envy. Thus, the idiom green
with envy designates feelings of jealousy. The Romanian language uses the same colour to
indicate envy – a fi verde de invidie.
When people and things are called green, then they are immature, inexperienced,
undeveloped, unripe, and raw. Instances of such negative extension exist in colloquial
Romanian as well.
You’re very green, Jon [30, p. 684]. — Oh! Jon, tare mai eşti naiv! [31, p. 138]
More fool you, growled the other. I’d have spent ‘em on a Man, in wittles and drink. He
must have been a green one [37, p. 406]. – Mare prost, bodogăni celălalt. Eu le-aş fi cheltuit
ca popa, pe haleală şi băutură. O fi fost vreun ageamiu [38, p. 162].
I hate the way people keep things from one, he muttered, and then sneer at one for being
green [30, p. 685]. – Găsesc că sistemul de a ascunde adevărul e complet greşit, mîrii
el; şi apoi mi se mai spune şi că sunt naiv! [31, p. 139]
In addition to five basic colours, yellow “shines with optimism, enlightenment, and
happiness” [36] according to Smith and it is associated with sun and gold. On the other hand,
this colour signals dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, deceit and illness. In the selected
examples, yellow designates cowardice:
I'm one of these very yellow guys. I try not to show it, but I am [39, p. 48]. – Sunt un tip
foarte laş. Fac tot ce pot ca să nu se vadă, dar sunt laş [40, p. 110].
I'm very yellow about those things [39, p. 54]. – Sunt foarte laş când e vorba de situaţii
d-astea [40, p. 125].
In the Romanian language, yellow is associated with suffering, disease, envy, jealousy
but not with cowardice, that is why it was translated as laș.
This study tried to indicate that contrastive analysis can shed light on the similarities
and differences in the connotation of English and Romanian colour-related idioms. It is
worthwhile mentioning that the relation between language and culture creates a great effect on
the connotations of these idioms. It can be concluded that, some colours share common
connotative ground in two languages, while others characterize only one culture.
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