For the Issue of Idiom in Western European, Georgian and Turkish Linguistics

Abstract

Language, as a social institution, is constantly changing and evolving, by the way, through the metaphorical understanding of solid group of words. This type, so called idiomatic expressions have long been the focus of researchers’ attention, however, to date there is no consensus among linguists on its definition. The paper presents a brief history of the study of idioms, the main definitions of which are found in Western, Georgian and Turkish linguistics, the reasons for the diversity of assessments and draws a definite conclusion: In most cases, the main feature of the idiom is the special meaning of the words’ group, which is not obtained by mechanical summation of its constituent components, the meanings of the words contained it. The perception of an idiom as an idiom is provided not by the separate meaning of its constituent components, but by the meaning of the whole, which is the result of poetic mind. Therefore, idioms should be considered as a national phe­nomenon, a kind of mirror of the spiritual world of the nation.