Yiddish Phraseology: Ill Wishes

Abstract

The present research featured Yiddish idioms of ill-wishing, which can be considered as both phraseological units and micro-texts. The study featured semantic and stylistic analysis, analysis of dictionary definitions, and the traditional descriptive method. The authors tried to answer some current issues using the case of Yiddish ill wishes. The paper focuses on cultural, mythological, religious, and universal foundations of phraseology, as well as the functions of the idioms in question. It introduces some thematic and semantic characteristics of Yiddish ill wishes, e.g. get-ill wishes, death-wishes, ill wishes per se, cursing one’s family, etc., as well as their lexical and grammatical stylistic features. Yiddish ill wishes proved to form a specific component of the Yiddish lexicon, motivated by both popular and less obscure religious, historical, and cultural archetypes and scenarios. It is their external and internal form that makes these phraseological units ill wishes: stylistically and pragmatically, they represent humorous and sarcastic phraseological units of reproachful character and interjective nature. The research results can be used for further linguistic and cultural studies.