Odproprialny czy odapelatywny? – problemy opisu motywacji związków frazeologicznych z nazwą własną
From a Proper Noun or from a Common Noun? On Some Problems in the Motivation of Phraseological Units with Proper Names

Summary/Abstract: The paper addresses the issue of the motivation of some phraseologisms which include components homonymous with proper names (e.g., dookoła wojtek, lit. ‘Wojtek in circles’; w koło macieju, lit.‘Maciej in circles’, both these idioms meaning ‘to keep talking or doing the same thing all the time’; bosy antek, lit. ‘barefoot Antek’, referring to a person from central Poland, historically under Russian occupation; cienki bolek, lit. ‘thin Bolek’ meaning a person who is weak and incompetent). The aim of the study is to indicate some difficulties in an analysis of the origin of such units, which illustrates more general problems in the description of their motivation. In the discussed expressions, the original source of their nominal components remains unclear, which distinguishes them from such unitsas Achilles heel, the shirt of Nessus. The problems identified in the analysis relate to the phenomenon of apelativisation of proper nouns, which is part of the broader issue of the relationship between phraseologism and proper nouns.

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