Naslov
Beast of burden: a contrastive analysis of donkey idioms in English and Croatian

Autori
Grubišić Ćurić, Iva

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Izvornik
ELALT 5 Book of abstracts / Đurić Paunović, Ivana - Novi Sad : Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, 2019, 24-24

ISBN
978-86-6065-513-6

Skup
5th International Conference on English Language and Anglophone Literatures Today (ELALT 5)

Mjesto i datum
Novi Sad, Srbija, 09.03.2019

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
idioms ; donkey ; Croatian ; English

Sažetak
Apart from being used pejoratively to denote a stupid person, the Croatian lexeme magarac is contained in numerous idioms. Croatian idioms containing the lexemes magarac, magare, pule, tovar, mazga, and mula were searched for in dictionaries for the purpose of this analysis, as well as English idioms containing the lexemes donkey and mule. The aim of this analysis was to establish the similarities and differences between Croatian and English idioms containing the aforementioned lexemes. The analysis showed that, as far as character traits are concerned, Croatian idioms exhibit the following: stupidity (glup kao magarac/tovar/mazga), stubbornness (tvrdoglav kao magarac/tovar/mazga), and laziness (lijen kao magarac/tovar). Instances of both stupidity (as stupid as a donkey) and stubbornness (as stubborn as a mule) were found in the English idioms as well. In comparison with other equids, more precisely horses, donkeys are conceptualized as inferior, or less prestigious animals (pasti s konja na magarca ; dobar je bio i magarac dok nije došao konj), which can be traced back to literary and religious traditions (Leko 2007, Levanat- Peričić 2010, Jelaska 2014). Shakespeare’s Richard III offers a kingdom for a horse, and there is a number of famous military horses (e.g. Bucephalus, Marengo, etc.), as contrasted with the donkey’s primary function as a beast of burden, not a riding animal. The aforementioned is also visible in the Croatian idiom pristaje kao magarcu sedlo, which denotes something ill-fitting. The donkey’s function of a working animal is reflected in Croatian idioms pozvan na svadbu da vuče vodu kao magarac and raditi magareći posao, as well as in the English idiom do the donkey work. Getting used to something unpleasant can be expressed by the Croatian idiom naučiti se na što kao magare na batine, and something unimportant, as in nothing happened, translates to pojeo vuk magare. It is also worth mentioning that in English something may go downhill, whereas in Croatian it is the donkey that goes downhill (pošlo magare nizastranu). Research (Hansen-Kokoruš 1996, Turk and Spicijarić Paškvan 2014) suggests that some Croatian idioms were influenced by the German language (e.g. pasti s konja na magarca), and some may be classified as national idioms (e.g. pojeo vuk magare). That may explain the numerous and diverse donkey idioms in the Croatian language.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

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