Substitutions and reductions of toponymic components in translation of idioms (on translation of Italian idioms into the Polish language)

Joanna Szerszunowicz

Uniwersytet w Białymstoku

Abstract

The focal issue of the paper is the translation of idioms containing toponyms, which is presented by analyzing how Italian fixed phraseological units can be translated into Polish. The emphasis is placed on the variety of relations between the toponymic component in the original unit and its equivalent in the translation. Apart from the international idioms, in the vast majority of cases the toponyms are either substituted or reduced, which results mostly from their cultural character. In the case of reductions the translation of an idiom may be non-phraseological or phraseological. Some of the reductions observed in the material analyzed also result from the presence of certain phraseological models requiring the toponymic component in Italian and their lack in the Polish l anguage. As to the substitutions the components tend to be replaced with the parallel component of the target culture. It should be stressed that both substitutions and reductions vary, since it is possible to distinguish such varieties as real, partial and apparent substitutions and reductions of toponyms in translation of idioms discussed. The phenomena of substituting and reducing the onymic components is of great importan ce for the analysis of the idiom equivalence, since it renders it possible to evaluate the translability of a given idiom.

Keywords:

idiom, ekwiwalent, toponim