Phraseological units with head words designating watercraft in Bulgarian and Greek

Abstract

This paper compares phraseological units denoting watercraft in Bulgarian and Greek, by considering their forms and semantics. This analysis allows linguistic and ethno-psycholinguistic conclusions to be drawn about these two Balkan nations. For phraseologisms with the same head words in both languages, complete and partial similarities are observed. However, a far greater number of phraseological units are found in Greek alone, which can be explained by the fact that, in comparison to Bulgaria, sailing is a common occupation in Greece. A semantic classification reveals that most phraseologisms are significantly personally oriented; in addition, it offers insight into specific features of the world views of Greeks and Bulgarians.