Yp1-03(2) Idioms: Motivation and Etymology Dmitrij Dobrovol’skij and Elisabeth Piirainen Abstract

2.2. Symbol-based type of motivation

In idioms with symbol-based motivation,^iv the relevant cultural knowledge mainly extends to one single constituent (or more precisely, to the concept behind it) and not to the idiom as a whole (as is the case with the metaphoric type of motivation). The key constituents of “symbolic” idioms have clear semantic autonomy.^v The motivational link between the literal and figurative readings of these constituents is established by semiotic knowledge about the cultural symbol in question, especially its meaning in culturally relevant sign systems other than language, cf. (4).

(4) to keep the wolf from the door

‘to ward off starvation or financial ruin; to maintain oneself at a minimal level’

The concept wolf with its symbolic functions ‘hunger and greediness’ and ‘economic despair’ plays the principal part in the semantic motivation of idiom (4). This agrees with the symbolic functions of wolf that are anchored in various cultural codes, ranging from fairy tales and folk tales of the dangerous, people-devouring wolf to folk beliefs about werewolves, and throughout Western history from antiquity to Christian exegesis up to present-day nursery rhymes, cartoons or film animations. Thus, in order to process idiom (4), other pieces of knowledge must be activated: the knowledge of the symbolization behind the constituent wolf. In most cases, the semantic procedures that underlie symbol-based motivation constitute a metonymical shift.

The difference between metaphoric motivation and symbol-based motivation is that the former involves the idea of some kind of similarity between the entity encoded in the inner form and the entity denoted by the idiom taken in its lexicalized meaning, whereas the latter exploits certain cultural conventions based on the ability of material objects to “stand for” some non-material entity.