Figurative-semantic and structural features of the German phraseological units and composite idioms with the zoonym components “Hund” (dog) and “Katze” (cat)

Abstract

The paper discusses the German phraseological units and composite idioms with the zoonym components “Hund” (dog) and “Katze” (cat). Linguistic units with the idiomatic meaning containing zoonyms and having a centuries-old history are widely spread in the German language and are in general of great interest both from the national-cultural and the lexical-grammatical point of view. The aim of the study is to identify and interpret the similarities and differences of both structural and figurative-semantic nature between the German phraseological units and composite idioms with these zoonym components. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that a comparative analysis of the phraseological units and composite idioms with the specified components taking into account their structural diversity makes it possible to determine the figurative-semantic specifics of these zoonyms in German phraseology to a fuller extent. As a result, it has been found that, on the one hand, the figurative-semantic features of the zoonyms “Hund” (dog) and “Katze” (cat) are reflected both in phraseological units and in composite idioms and, on the other hand, there are both similarities and differences between them capable of influencing the ways of their structural integration.