PHRASEOLOGY AS A SOURCE OF CULTURAL STUDY: MIND ON FIRE, OR WHERE AND WHY DO WE ADD FUEL?

Svitlana YERMOLENKO,
Academician of the NAS of Ukraine, Professor, Dr. Sci. (Philol.),
Chief Researcher of the Department of Stylistics, Culture of the Language and Sociolinguistics,
Institute of the Ukrainian Language of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
4, Mykhaila Hrushevskoho St., Kyiv, 01001, Ukraine;
e-mail: svitlana.yermolenko@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9916-4915

Heading: LANGUAGE AND TIME
Language: Ukrainian

Abstract
The article examines Ukrainian phraseological expressions used to describe emotionally expressive communications (a heated conversation, an argument, or a fight): adding fuel (pouring oil) into the fire, throwing brush (coals) into the fire, sprinkling pepper, as well as expressions “having fuel (oil, a brain) in one’s head” that mean “being sharp or clever.”
The article focuses on the terms describing oily substances used to form two types of expressions: (a) phrases that mean “to fuel a dispute,” and (b) expressions that mean “to be clever.” The author traces the history of oily substance terms (fuel, oil, tallow) in dictionaries throughout the existence of the Ukrainian language, examines how the fixed expressions involving these terms are reflected in the specialized and general Ukrainian language dictionaries, and concludes that “adding fuel into the fire” is a well-established expression.
The article demonstrates that well-established Ukrainian phraseological expressions form the basis for literary associative images – poetic phrases that bring about the deep connection between the concepts of fire, light, and mind.
Key words: phraseological units, fatty substance nominations, concrete-subjective meaning of the lexeme, abstract concepts-symbols, correlation of concrete-subjective and abstract-symbolic meanings, linguistic and cultural experience of the people.

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LEGEND
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