On domestic animals in Russian and French phraseology

The aim of this article is to compare French and Russian phraseological units including the names of domestic ani-mals (кошка/ chat, собака/ chien, лошадь/ cheval, корова/ vache, свя/ cochon, коза /chèvre, баран/ mouton) which are discussed according to structural, functional and semantic criteria proposed by A.G. Nazarian. According to the structural criterion, phraseological units include: a) non-predicative (жирный как свинья/ gras comme un cochon; ме-тать бисер перед свиньями/ jeter des perles aux cochons), b) partially predicative (cheval qui n’a ni bouche ni éperon) and с) predicative (le chat parti [absent, quand le chat n’est pas là, quand le chat dort], les souris dansent). Idioms (manger de la vache enragée) and unique phraseological units (appeler un chat un chat) are distinguished according to semantic classification. According to the functional criterion, phraseological units are divided into communicative (да-реному коню в зубы не смотрят/ à cheval donné on ne regarde pas la bouche) and non-communicative (конек, глав-ный козырь/ cheval de bataille), including nominative and infinitive units. Comparing Russian and French phraseolog-ical units we can observe the following relations: coincidence of the plan of content and the image (играть как кошка с мышью/ jouer avec sa victime comme un chat avec une souris), coincidence of the plan of content and different im-ages ( не иметь ни кола, ни двора/ n’avoir ni cheval ni mule), difference of the plan of content and of images, but the presence of domestic animal’s name (кошки скребут на душе, avoir un chat dans la gorge). Phraseological units can сontain metaphor, продать (купить) кота в мешке/ vendre (acheter) chat en poche metonymy (Троянский конь/ cheval de Troie), comparison (amoureuse comme une chatte).