The Influences of Roman and Greek Myths on English Idioms

1、希臘羅馬神話對英語習語的影響influences of roman and greekmyths on english idiomscontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. literature review.3iii. roman and greek myths.31. roman and greek myths.32. the influence of roman and greek myths.5iv. english idioms.6v. the english idioms about roman and greek myth

2、s.71. sword of damocles.72. pandoras box.73. an apple of discord84. gordian knot.95. mercury.9vi. conclusion.9references.10the influences of roman and greek myths on english idiomsthe influences of roman and greekmyths on english idiomsabstract: in the modern society, a country or nation must commun

3、icate with other countries or nations for surviving and development. for this reason, we must learn the languages of other countries or nations. in the course of learning foreign languages, a problem appeared before us: we have remembered many words and have learned the rules of the languages, but w

4、hy do we make many mistakes (cant understand or the other meanings of the word)? at last, we found the reasons of this problem; the reason is that we dont know the background of the language and the culture expressed by the language. for this reason, it is need to learn the background of the languag

5、e. ancient roman and greek civilization is the origin of the western civilization. it has produced profound influence upon western civilization. the greco-roman world pervades every western and many non-western societies; it includes literature, arts, architecture and languages, etc. the roman and g

6、reek myths are vital in greco-roman world, and it is the main power in the influence of greco-roman world. in english vocabulary, there are many words originated from the roman and greek myths，this thesis will talk about the influences of roman and greek myths on english idioms.key words: english id

7、ioms; roman and greek myths; influence摘 要：在現(xiàn)代社會，一個國家或民族想要生存和發(fā)展，就必須對外進行交流。為了與外交流，就必須要學習其它國家或民族的語言。在學習外語的過程中，我們又發(fā)現(xiàn)一個問題，我們已經(jīng)知道了很多的詞匯，也知道了很多的語法規(guī)則，但是為什么我們在與外交流中，還是會出現(xiàn)很多無法理解或是產(chǎn)生歧義的情況呢？后來我們終于發(fā)現(xiàn)，這是因為我們對其語言的背景和它所承載的文化的不了解造成的，這就要求我們學習語言的文化背景。古希臘羅馬文化是西方文明的源頭，對西方文明產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。古希臘羅馬文化的影響遍及文學、藝術、建筑、語言等，并且在西方國家和非西方國家

8、都有很大的影響。 在古希臘羅馬文化對世界的影響中，古希臘羅馬神話起了重要的作用。在英語詞匯中，有很多詞匯源于古希臘羅馬神話，本論文我們將探討希臘羅馬神話對英語習語的影響。關鍵詞：英語習語；古希臘羅馬神話；影響. introductionin the modern society, a country or nation must communicate with other countries or nations for surviving and development. along the development of the globalization of the economy a

9、nd politics, the relations among all countries and nations become more and more closer. any country cant develop and survive without communicating with other countries. to communicate with other countries or nations, we must learn the languages of other countries or nations. but in the course of lea

10、rning foreign languages, a strange phenomenon appeared: we have remembered many words and have learned the rules of the languages, but why do we make many mistakes (cant understand or the other meanings of the word)? the cause of this phenomenon is the lack of the background of the languages.ancient

11、 roman and greek civilization is the origin of the western civilization. it has produced profound influences upon western civilization. the greco-roman world pervades every western and many non-western societies; it includes literature, arts, architecture and languages, etc. the roman and greek myth

12、s are vital in greco-roman world, and it is the main power in the influence of greco-roman world. in english vocabulary, there are many words originated from the roman and greek myths，the influence of the art, languages, literatures and cultures of the greco-roman world pervades every western and ma

13、ny non-western societies. a meaningful appreciation of our classical past is very important for understanding the impressive continuity of western institutions and values. meanwhile, it is also vital for recognizing how recent innovations and transformations of received assumptions have rendered asp

14、ects of the classical world alien and sometimes exceptionable. the classics are crucial both to the perpetuation and to the critique of the western liberal arts education. the mythology reflects the every field of the arts, languages, literatures and cultures. in other words, the mythology is the or

15、igin of one civilization.in the traditional way of learning english, the important point usually focuses on the words and grammar, but a little background. this reason makes people in a ridiculous position. some people have remembered many words even over the number of 10 000, but when they read the

16、 native newspapers or articles, many sentences are still out of their capacity. this is an example of mistake that usually made by people. learning the culture is only way to solve this problem. and learning the roman and greek myths is one of the best ways.language is the carrier of culture, the ma

17、in expressional form of culture, which develops along with nation, country and societys development. language is a part of a nations culture. the different nationality has different culture, history, manners，customs and so on, but various nationalities culture and the social custom all display in th

18、is nationalitys language. english idioms has its own traits of culture, the influence of roman and greek myths on it is a perfect model. among the family of idioms, there are many members related to roman and greek myths.ii. literature reviewin ancient times, greek created their own myths; they wors

19、hipped the gods and goddesses they created. in the greek myths, gods resembled human beings; the difference in appearance between mortal and immortal is that the gods were more perfect than humans. after rome invaded greece, roman accepted greek culture; it is naturally included greek myths. before

20、rome invaded greece, roman had their own mythology; they mixed roman myths and greek myths together, so people classed them together. it is called roman and greek myths. almost every person worshipped gods, so people in ancient rome and greece usually take the person in the myths as symbols. for exa

21、mple, “the achilles heel”, which means a weak point that, can make someone or something in despair; “helen of troy”, which means a terrible disaster brought by somebody or something you like best; a beautiful girl or woman; a beauty who ruins her country. besides, some phrases like “the trojan horse

22、”, “a penelopes web”, “greek gift(s)”, and so on. along the times passed by, the phrases originated from the roman and greek myths became more and more various. in the course of the using languages, a special group of the words appeared, they are idioms. idioms are produced from the long and lasting

23、 use of language. the phrases originated from the roman and greek myths is one kind of the idioms. . roman and greek myths 1roman and greek mythsgreek mythology is a group of traditional tales told by the ancient greeks about the deeds of gods and heroes and their relations with ordinary human being

24、s. roman mythology is the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient rome. to many people, roman mythology largely seems a copy of greek mythology. the romans had come into contact with greek culture during the 6th century b.c. and afterwards some of their gods and goddesses began to t

25、ake on the qualities of greek gods and goddesses. but before that time, the romans had developed their own mythology. at first the romans regarded their gods more as powers than as persons. their gods did not have human motives, they did not marry or fight or have love affairs with human beings. onl

26、y after the romans came into contact with greek culture did they begin to represent their gods in human form.as roman and greek cultures mixed together, we know ancient roman gods and goddesses became associated with those in greek mythology. between the 5th and 1st centuries b.c. additional roman m

27、ythological figures appeared, nearly all based on the gods and heroes in greek mythology. writers such as virgil and ovid borrowed stories from greek literary and artistic tradition, and attached them to roman gods, creating a hybrid greco-roman mythology. these writers also invented some stories ab

28、out roman gods, largely under greek influence. myths that can be regarded as almost entirely romans creation are those about ancient roman mythology comes mainly from the works of art also provide us with some knowledge of roman myths. in addition to those gods and goddesses whose stories were borro

29、wed from greek myths, the romans worshiped many native gods and goddesses. from these definitions and descriptions, we know that the roman myths and greek myths are closely associated and undividable. and it is the origin of the ancient roman and greek culture. the western culture is from the ancien

30、t greek and roman, the roman and greek myths are naturally the origin of western civilization.greek mythology is the body of myths and stories developed by the ancient greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own culture and ritual practices. modern scholars referre

31、d to the myths and studied them in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of ancient greece and, in general, on the ancient greek civilization. in the modern mind，greek and roman culture and mythology are classed together. an indication of this is that the academic stu

32、dy of the ancient greeks and romans are general put into the same classics department. most of the greek deities were adopted by the romans, although in many cases there was a change of name. the following is a chart about the names of the gods and goddesses in roman and greek myths:roman greek cere

33、s demeterdianaartemisjuno herajupiter zeusmarsares mercuryhermes minervaathenaneptuneposeidonplutohadessaturn cronusvenusaphrodite vestahestiavulcan hephaestus2. the influences of roman and greek mythsthe influence of the greco-roman world pervades every western and many non-western societies. the r

34、oman and greek myths are outstanding literature works, they are the origins of the works of the artists, many poets created poems according to the roman and greek myths, essayist created sad and move stories borrowed the myths, artists created famous statues about the stories, scientists named the s

35、tars with the names of the gods and goddesses or the names of the heroes, many rockets were named after the figures in the roman and greek myths, some animals and plants were given the names of the names in the myths, even some brands and companies were named according to the stories in the roman an

36、d greek myths, for attracting eyeballs, some advertisements were also got the elements of the myths. to understand the literature works, the paintings and statues, it is necessary to learn the myths. in the history of english literature, from the works of chaucer, spencer, shakespears, milton to the

37、 works created by shelly, yeaz, baron, we can find the influences of the roman and greek myths. in the field of music, the influences of the roman and greek myths are more usually appeared; many compositions are created according one god or one story. in addition, the influences of the roman and gre

38、ek myths are also reflected on the languages. the meaning of many words, we must find it from the myths. take “janiter” as an example, it is originated from the two-faced god “janus” in the roman and greek myths, the sixth month of the year is from the empress “juno”, the westerners describe the del

39、icious food “tastes like ambrosia”, the “ambrosia” is the food of the gods and goddesses lived in the olympus. . english idiomsas for english idioms，there are several definitions. (1) according to the oxford advanced english learners dictionary, the idiom is the phrase or sentence whose meaning is n

40、ot clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit. (2) idiom is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language. (3) idiom is an important part of the vocabulary in a language. it is the concentrating expressions of the languages nationa

41、l form and all kinds of the rhetoric. (4) it is formed through long-lasting use and using many times of some part of the language. (5) it has stable and set form, it is brief, and it has deep thought of phrases or short sentences. the idiom includes metaphorical phrases, slang, colloquialism, prover

42、b, etc.idiom basically comes from the folk, and to a great extent, reflects a nationalitys cultural characteristics, the different nationalitys experience of life and the national character. same as novel, poetry and other literary work, idiom is the essence of various national languages. many idiom

43、s are even very difficult to find in common dictionaries, but have vivid life feature and trueborn national characteristic. this is also a phenomenon which worthy of the language researchers and learners attention. idiom is also an important rhetoric method of language, the independence, anomalistic

44、 but the fixed factor of language. the idioms of different languages are both influenced by cultural characteristics, and have a certain influence to the respective language and nationalitys culture. english idiom is a vivid language form.idioms are produced from the long and lasting use of language

45、. the language used in all countries which have passed long history have large numbers of idioms. english is the widest language in the world. meanwhile, it is one of the languages which have the most various ways to express itself and the most fantastic tradition. english is used by the people in d

46、ifferent nations and regions, all of them have more or less contributions to it. idiom is from short messages or phrases, it is the core or the essential of the language. the language will be boring without idiom. we put the idioms in a correct or a proper position, or we use idioms skillfully and p

47、erfectly, which would make the language more beautiful.as a special expressing form of the language, it is also the set phrases or short sentences used by most people. we can explain it with the modern language, it is also used in the daily life. however, not all the structures of the idioms is equi

48、valent with the modern language, sometimes the words. the idioms is long-lasting and formed in the daily life, it also has complete and specific meaning. therefore, the idioms have the different characteristics with the general language form. the english idioms about roman and greek mythsin the big

49、family of english idioms, there are many idioms about roman and greek myths. the following presents some english idioms. 1. sword of damoclesdionysius was a fourth century b.c. tyrant of syracuse. to all appearances he was very rich and comfortable, with all the luxuries money could buy, tasteful cl

50、othing and jewelry, and delectable food. he even had court flatterers to inflate his ego. one of these ingratiates was the court sycophant damocles. damocles used to make comments to the king about his wealth and luxurious life. one day when damocles complimented the tyrant on his abundance and powe

51、r, dionysius turned to damocles and said, “if you think im so lucky, how would you like to try out my life?” damocles readily agreed, and so dionysius ordered everything to be prepared for damocles to experience what life as dionysius was like. damocles was enjoying himself immensely until he notice

52、d a sharp sword hovering over his head, which was suspended from the ceiling by a horse hair. this, the tyrant explained to damocles, was what life as ruler was really like. damocles alarmed and quickly revising his idea of what made up a good life, asked to be excused. he then eagerly returned to h

53、is poorer, but safer life.today, the phrase “the sword of damocles” means “a constant threat.”2. pandoras boxpandora is one of the daughters of one of the greek gods, or something like that. she was asked to guard a box and never to open it. of course, out of curiosity she did. the box contained all

54、 kinds of evil and so when she opened it, they all escaped to the world: that is why there are so much evil in the world. pandora quickly closed the box before everything escaped. one item remained at the bottom of the box. that item was hope.so where everything goes against you, there is always hop

55、e.another version about pandoras box is like this: pandora was created by some evil god to tempt the brother of prometheus, the one who brought fire to the world. prometheus had cautioned his brother about this lady, but apparently his advice was met with oblivion. his brother, well, yielded to pand

56、oras charm at last and opened the box and thus came out wars, diseases, floods, etc. his brother got scared and closed the box then, thus shutting hope in.today, the phrase “pandoras box” is similar to “a can of worms”.here is a definition and an example from the american heritage dictionary. pandor

57、as box: a source of many unforeseen troubles: “reform is a pandoras box; opening up the system can lead to a loss of economic and political control” (russell watson).3. an apple of discordzeus was putting together a wedding banquet for peleus and thetis. he planned to invite just about everyone except eris. she was known far and wide as a troublemaker so she was left out as she was left out of just about every big reception.needless to say, eris was greatly angered by this. she then thought up a little plot to stir things up at the receptio