Calques from French in Bulgarian Phraseology

Abstract

The paper traces the long-term influence of the French language on the formation of Bulgarian phraseology. Distinct periods during which the French influence on Bulgarian is especially strong are analyzed. Hypotheses of individual scholars about the calquing of French phrasemes both in Bulgarian and internationally are commented on. Idioms, conventional metaphors and metonymies, loan translations of verb paraphrases, and other types of collocations are discussed. Since the French influence is both literary and oral in Bulgarian from the National Revival Period to the present day, both slang and colloquial expressions based on the French model are used. Through a comparative study of a translation done during the Revival, an attempt is made to outline the specifics of borrowing in the field of phraseology in the years before the Liberation.