LingVaria (Sep 2014)
Koza i kozioł w polskich przysłowiach oraz wyrażeniach przysłowiowych
Abstract
Goat and ram in Polish proverbs and proverbial expressions. One cultural-linguistic image of animals, or two? The paper discusses proverbs and proverbial expressions relating to goats and rams. An analysis of the collected material has allowed the author to establish a series of common characteristics that are ascribed to animals of both sexes (to goats and rams), and of features that are only ascribed to one of them. The cultural-linguistic images of goats and rams, reconstructed based on proverbs and proverbial expressions, are not identical. The image of the ram is much more modest than that of the goat, a consequence of the quantitative disproportion between the data referring to the two animals. Apart from proverbs and proverbial expressions, ethnographic materials were used in the analysis, making it possible to explain the origin of the analysed proverbs.
Keywords