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analele tiinifice ale universitii de stat b p hasdeu din cahul vol x 2014 colour related idioms connotation and symbolism ina para catedra de limbi moderne in toate limbile exist ...

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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 
                                     56 
         
          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]. 
                               57 
          
       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. 
                             58 
       
          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. 
                               59 
          
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...Analele tiinifice ale universitii de stat b p hasdeu din cahul vol x colour related idioms connotation and symbolism ina para catedra limbi moderne in toate limbile exist numeroase expresii idiomatice care cromatica joac un rol important i semnificaia acestor este foarte mult influenat asociaiile dintre culori realitile culturale etnice religioase unui popor pornind la premiza c percepia culorilor aceeai timp ce interpretarea lor diferit englez roman articolul prezent se concentreaz asupra analizei sensurilor conotative termenilor cromatici cele dou evideniind astfel similaritile diferenele nuanelor semantice acestora the purpose of this paper is to analyse similarities differences use certain colours idiomatic expressions as well their connotative meaning english romanian languages are full which refer ideas that lie beyond literal extensions denotation interpretation depends on cultural aspects different ways expressing feelings emotions cultures developed correspondences between ass...

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