Zwischen linguistischen Welten: Onymische Phraseme als Phraseologismen und Eigennamen

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the discussion on so called onymic phrasemes. In onomastics they are usually described as fixed combinations of words functioning as proper names (proper noun phrases). The focus hereby is on those names that are not only polylexical and semantically transparent (cf. the White House, the “new Länder“) but also have an apparent literal meaning (cf. appellative/ descriptive meaning) and a non-literal meaning (‘specific/ assigned meaning’). Phraseology integrates those names as a special class of phrasemes or more precisely as nominative phrasemes with the feature [+ onymic]. Like all phrasemes, they are polylexical and rigid and develop a “new meaning” which should be modeled along theoretical conceptions. Upon closer inspection one can also find correlations along the lines of questions of meaning, phraseologization, proprialization, as well as idiomatization and dissociation. Problems in lexicography and orthography result from the status of onymic phrasemes of the type the Far East. Whether or not onomastics and phraseology should work together more closely on this topic or distance themselves from one another can only be determined once the discipline of onomastics is more engaged with phraseolexemes of the type [+ onymic/ monoreferential]. The aim of this paper is to call attention to similarities and differences between these two fields.