Aspecte lexicale şi culturale ale frazeologismelor somatice din limba română cu referire la părţile piciorului
Lexical and cultural aspects of somatic phraseologisms in Romanian referring to the parts of the foot

Author(s): Murzac Angela
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts
Published by: Biblioteca Ştiinţifică a Universităţii de Stat Alecu Russo
Keywords: somatic phraseological units; romanian language; metaphorization; lower limb; semantics; linguistic expressiveness
Summary/Abstract: The present study investigates somatic phraseological units in the Romanian language that include lexical elements denoting parts of the lower limb, with particular focus on the lexemes şold (hip), coapsă (thigh), and pulpă (calf). The research is grounded in the assumption that somatic components constitute a central conceptual source in the formation of figurative meanings, reflecting embodied experience and cultural patterns of interpretation. The main objective is to identify and analyze the phraseological potential of these lexemes, with emphasis on their semantic, expressive, and cultural functions. The analysis combines descriptive and interpretative methods, based on data extracted from phraseological dictionaries and literary texts. The findings reveal that, unlike other somatic elements such as „picior” (foot/leg), which display high phraseological productivity, the lexemes „şold”, „coapsă”, and „pulpă” participate only marginally in the formation of stable idiomatic structures. Their semantic development remains predominantly anchored in the concrete, physical domain, with limited extension into abstract, moral, or psychological meanings. This disparity highlights the selective and culturally conditioned nature of linguistic metaphorization, demonstrating that not all body parts contribute equally to the construction of figurative language. Despite their reduced frequency, the analyzed units retain specific semantic and cultural values, reflecting traditional mentalities and modes of conceptualizing human experience. The study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between language, body, and culture, offering relevant insights for phraseological research, Romanian linguistics, and foreign language didactics.

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