„Po śmierci próżniaka nie zawyje i sobaka”: образ ледаря та трудолюба в зоофразеології (на матеріалі польської, української та російської мов)

Abstract

The article analyzes the zoophraseologisms to denote a lazy and a hard worker. It was found that the images of a bee, a horse (in all studied languages), a donkey (the Ukrainian language), a bull, a louse (the Russian language), and an ant (the Polish language) were used in the phraseology for a positive description of person. Laziness and idleness in phraseology personify the images of a cat (in all studied languages), a bird, a louse (Polish and Ukrainian languages), a drone (Ukrainian and Russian languages), a donkey (the Russian language), a dog, a hen (the Ukrainian language). Ambivalent connotations in phraseology have images of an ox (in all studied languages), a dog (Polish and Russian languages), a hen, a donkey (the Polish language). Negatively colored phraseologies prevail over positively ones. In most cases, the semantics of phraseology is related to the way of life of animals, which people perceive it, to a lesser extent – the plots of fairy tales, pagan traditions, culinary and hunting practices. Decoding of some phraseologies is complicated by the homonymy of animal names.