XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

It is a well-known fact, that weapon is one of the largest components of the material world of a representative of the military sphere. It is not just a part of the physical world of things, but also it reflects the peculiarities of the moral attitudes of the ethnic group. In this study, we are going to deal with the ideas associated with various types of weapons, that arise in the minds of society representatives by analyzing the phraseological units’ meaning. The invention of gunpowder was the beginning of the era of firearms. The powder component serves as the basis for a number of phraseological units in the English language, for example, the smell of powder, which means ‘combat experience’.

One of the main requirements for the safety of firearms is to keep gunpowder dry, which served as the basis for the emergence of a steady turnover of keeping one's powder dry. The phraseology is part of the English proverb ‘put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry’. The largest number of phraseological units, that evoke ideas about firearms, have the gun component as a reference word, for example: to give the gun; to stick to one’s guns; to jump the gun; to cut the gun; to go great guns.

The main function of the weapon is an aggressive effect on a person for the purpose of his physical or moral suppression, which is reflected in phraseological units that have the components shotgun and pistol: shotgun marriage – a wedding that has to take place quickly because the woman is pregnant; to hold (to put) a pistol to smb’s head – to hold a knife to throat.

A component element of a hand-held firearm, trigger, which is part of a number of English phraseological units, contains a cultural meaning associated with a high rate of fire: a finger on the trigger; easy on the trigger; quick on the trigger. The names of ammunition and explosive devices served as the basis for the emergence of a large number of phraseological units. The reference word of a number of stable turns is the noun bomb: to throw a bomb - cause a sensation/commotion; cost a bomb - cost a lot of money; bombshell effect - the impression of an exploding bomb; drop a bombshell – to release a sensation, to make a stir.

Another type of striking element of small arms is a bullet. The image of a bullet is enclosed in the internal form of the phraseology to bite (on) the bullet. A steady turnover has the meaning of clenching your teeth, enduring pain or grief, and etymologically goes back to the times when, due to the lack of anaesthesia, patients undergoing surgery bit a bullet with their teeth to cope with unbearable pain. Phraseological units, containing the bullet component, are also part of the English paremiological fund. In the figurative basis of the proverb every bullet has its billet, which has the meaning, that you will not escape your fate.

Summing up, it should be noted that the analysis of images of the English phraseological units allows to identify a wide range of representations associated with various types of firearms. The symbolic meaning of stable revolutions, which have a component naming a certain type of weapon, arises as a result of rethinking the functional features, signs and properties of weapons and is used by a representative of an ethnic group in the process of understanding the phenomena of the surrounding reality. The ideas that arise in the mind of a native speaker, when using phraseological units in speech, include images of various types of weapons as symbols of the beginning and ending of hostilities, violence, the struggle for moral ideals, and justice.