The Influence of Mythological Motifs on the Formation of Idioms and Metaphors in Contemporary German

Abstract

The present article is devoted to the origin and meaning of German idioms and metaphors whose roots reach back to antiquity. Proceeding from an expanded concept of antiquity, which includes not only the Greco-Roman world but also fundamental cultural, philosophical, and mythological developmental processes of early civilizations, the close connection between language, thought, and mythology is demonstrated.

Particular attention is paid to the ancient theory of naming, in which the word is understood as a meaning-bearing “tool” closely related to the properties and functions of the named entity.

Against this theoretical background, idioms are regarded as semantically indivisible, imagery-based phraseological units whose meanings cannot be derived from their individual components. Empirical material shows that numerous German idioms and metaphors originate in mythological concepts and continue to exist in contemporary language as linguistic testimonies to ancient ways of thinking.