Culture, tradition and history reflected in fixed phrases in Icelandic, Spanish and German

Abstract

This article deals with fixed phraseological units in Icelandic, Spanish and German. The focus is on how culture, traditions and history are reflected in the fixed expressions of the three selected languages. Fixed phrases can be divided into two categories depending on whether they are global or universal, i.e. found in many languages of the world, or specific or area bound, i.e. occur only in a specific language or language area. The article also discusses Dobrovol’skij’s and Piirainen’s classification of cultural phenomena that underlie cultural expressions into five categories: (1) social elements, (2) material elements, (3) texts and quotations, (4) elements that fall under the supernatural phenomena and (5) elements pertaining to various cultural symbols. In the article we will follow these main classifications and give examples of universal fixed phrases in the three languages. Finally, specific fixed expressions in the three languages are discussed and how their origin is related to the history, customs and culture of each language area