Phraseology in Dokładny słownik polsko-angielski i angielsko-polski ... ( 1851 ) by

Phraseologisms, or multi-word items, occur in most languages, but they may cause serious problems for foreign language learners. This article describes what Polish multi-word items were included and how they were translated into English in the first bilingual Polish-English dictionary by Erazm Rykaczewski. No fully-fledged diachronic study on phraseology in Polish-English and English-Polish bilingual dictionaries has ever been carried out, so the present article is a modest introduction to this field of research. A modern typology of phraseologisms has been applied for this purpose.


INTRODUCTION
Knowledge of phraseology is indicative of both native and non-native speakers' language proficiency. Phraseologisms, also known as phraseological units, phraseological expressions, multi-word items (MWIs), multi-word units (MWUs) or multi-word expressions (MWEs), may make language more vivid, rich and sophisticated, but they are difficult to use because their meanings reflect different degrees of opacity. This is where practical lexicography comes to the fore: it describes phraseologisms in order to explain their meaning and usage to the dictionary user. Phraseology is no doubt of great importance in bilingual dictionaries; such dictionaries, usually aimed at foreign language learners, can be used for text reception (decoding), text production (encoding), or both.
The objective of this paper is to present the pool of Polish phraseologisms found in Erazm Rykaczewski's Dokładny słownik polsko-angielski i angielsko-polski … (1851) and their English translations. The choice of the dictionary is not accidental; it was the first Polish-English dictionary, which came to be consulted by Polish learners of English for close to a hundred years (Podhajecka 2018, 70). Since it was one of the most comprehensive dictionaries compiled in the past, its bilingual data was also drawn on by subsequent lexicographers. Piotrowski (2001, 187) adds that the dictionary came to be reprinted many times, which suggests that there was a huge market demand for a bilingual dictionary of this sort. This analysis focuses on which phraseological units Rykaczewski admitted, how he described them, and what means of expression he used to establish equivalence. In order to assess the frequency of the MWIs analysed, I check them in other dictionaries and historical Polish sources.

TOWARDS A CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGISMS
For a long time, phraseology was an overlooked field of language studies. There are several reasons for this state of research. Of greatest significance is the fact that it is almost impossible to divide phraseology neatly between grammar and semantics. Firstly, phraseologisms are characterised by institutionalization, which means that they become recognized and accepted as lexical items of the language (Moon 1998, 7). Secondly, they are fixed, but only to some degree. For example, in the expression hungry like a wolf, wolf must occur in the singular, with the indefinite article, and like cannot be replaced with as. Thirdly, they are connected with non-compositionality, which means that the signification of a whole lexical item does not equal the sum of meanings of its individual components (Wikberg 2008, 128). In this light, it is clear why this field may be difficult to demarcate. It is worth mentioning Sinclair's words that "phraseology, in sharp contrast to most grammars, prioritises syntagmatic patterns over paradigmatic ones. Most grammars are paradigmatic [...] 'Positive' means 'not negative', and 'negative' means 'not positive', and that is that" (Sinclair 2008, xvi).
Despite the period of neglect, phraseologisms are receiving an increasing amount of attention from linguists, grammarians, and lexicographers today. While this should be the case, it is still hard, however, to propose one explicit definition of phraseology, a universal typology, and consistent strategies showing how phraseologisms should be translated from the source language (SL) into the target language (TL) because this also concerns their uses and functions in the context in which they are employed (Cowie 1998, 23).
According to Sinclair (2008, xv), the growing attention paid to phraseology results from "the present-day use of text corpora as the principal data-source for language analysis". Corpora are large collections of machine-readable texts and this enables them to study phraseology as surface phenomena, without processing or abstractions. It is important to add that MWIs are part and parcel of everyday language, used naturally by native speakers, but causing pertinent problems for second-and foreign-language learners.
Before the description of selected phraseologisms it is expedient to specify the categories according to which MWIs can be divided, although one has to admit that there is no agreement among scholars as to how this should be done. The following classification has been proposed by Granger and Paquot (2008, 41). They divide MWIs into three major categories: referential phrasemes, textual phrasemes and communication phrasemes, which are further divided into subcategories. The classification will be briefly described below. 1. Referential phrasemes are used to communicate a specific message and refer to objects, facts and phenomena. They are divided into:  Lexical collocations -these are usage-determined or preferred syntagmatic relations between two or more lexemes. One of the lexemes is the 'base' of a collocation and the language user selects the 'collocator', semantically dependent on the 'base'. Lexical collocations normally consist of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, and do not contain prepositions, infinitives, or clauses. Examples are: heavy rain, apologize profusely  Idioms -are considered to be fixed expressions, typical of one language, which may or may not have an equivalent in another language. Most often than not, they are complex, contain more than two words and have two meanings, literal and idiomatic. They are characterized by non-compositionality and lack of flexibility. Examples: to kick the bucket, to let the cat out of the bag (Fernando 1996, 35).  Irreversible bi-and trinomialsthese are fixed sequences, containing two or three words belonging to the same grammatical category, joined by the conjunction 'and' or 'or'. Irreversible means that the word order cannot be changed. Examples: kith and kin, hot and cold, tall, dark and handsome.  Similes -are figures of speech that function as comparisons. Similes and metaphors are often confused with each other. The main difference between a simile and a metaphor is that the former uses the words 'like' or 'as' to draw a comparison while the latter simply states the comparison without using 'like' or 'as'. Examples: as old as the hills, eat like a pig.  Compoundsare lexemes made up of two elements that can be used independently outside these word combinations. The meaning of the compound may or may not be similar to the meanings of its individual components. They can be written together, separately or with a hyphen and are characterized by high degrees of inflexibility. Examples: black hole, goldfish, part-time.  Grammatical collocationsare similar to lexical collocations, with the difference that they are restricted combinations of a lexical and a grammatical word, typically verbs, nouns, adjectives and a preposition. Examples: depend on, cope with, be afraid of (Bergenholtz 2013, 10).  Phrasal verbsthese fixed expressions consist of verbs and adverbial particles.
The meaning of the phrasal verb is often very different from the meaning of the original verb. Examples: look after, blow up, show up. 2. Textual phrasemes are, as the name itself indicates, related to texts or discourse and are typically used to organize the content. They are divided into:  Complex prepositionsare combinations of two or three words that function as single prepositions. Examples: apart from, due to, in front of.  Complex conjunctions -are grammaticalized sequences that function as conjunctions. Examples: so that, even though, as soon as, given that.  Linking adverbials -include various types of phrasemes and have a conjunctive role in the text. They can be used for enumeration, summation, inference. Examples: what is more, last but not least, in other words.  Textual sentence stems -are routinized fragments of sentences that are used to serve specific textual or organizational functions. Examples: the final point is, it will be shown that, I will discuss.
3. Communicative phrasemes are used to address interlocutors, catch their attention, engage them in discourse, or to voice one's feelings and beliefs. They are divided into:  Speech act formulaeare a recognized way among native speakers of one language of expressing greetings, compliments, invitations. These phrasemes are relatively inflexible and present different degrees of compositionality. Examples: good morning! Happy birthday! You're welcome!.  Attitudinal formulaeare used to express speaker's attitudes toward their statements and interlocutors. Examples: I think that, to be honest, in fact.  Commonplacesthese phrasemes are based on everyday experience. These nonmetaphorical complete sentences can express tautologies, truisms and sayings. Examples: We only live once, enough is enough, It's a small world.  Proverbsare complete sentences, giving advice or stating the general truth by means of non-literal meaning. They are usually well-known by the members of language community. Examples: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, If anything can go wrong, it will, It never rains but it pours.  Slogansthese multi-word expressions or phrases are short and directive, gaining popularity through their repeated use, for example in advertising or politics. Examples: Make love not war, Just do it. As can be seen, the meaning of phraseologisms reflects different degrees of opacity. They can be strongly connected with the culture and history of a language, and may not have ideal counterparts in another language. This is why phraseologisms pose difficulties not only for translators, but also for foreign-language learners. Since the knowledge of phraseology is indicative of both native and non-native speakers' language proficiency, phraseology is no doubt of great importance in bilingual dictionaries, which are usually aimed at foreign language learners, and which can be used for text reception (decoding), text production (encoding), or both (Cowie 1998, 32).

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PHRASEOLOGISMS
A majority of published bilingual dictionaries contain phraseologisms, usually in their microstructures. This notwithstanding, they are placed under different headwords, which may become problematic for the user. For example, when we search for a TL equivalent of a SL MWI consisting of three lemmas (e.g. when pigs fly), it may turn out that we will have to look up each of these lemmas (when, pig, fly) to find this idiom. And again, there is no certainty that we will find the TL equivalent explaining its meaning or an equivalent that would satisfy every user. This stems from the fact that such expressions are not only bound -culturally and historically -to one language, but they also have to be captured in their exact contexts. Clearly, without a proper knowledge of the TL and culture, the translation of MWIs is not an easy task.
In what follows, the focus will be on the analysis of selected Polish phraseologisms recorded by Erazm Rykaczewski in his Dokładny słownik polsko-angielski i angielsko-polski ... (1851) and their English translations.
Rykaczewski's dictionary may well be treated as a milestone in the history of bilingual lexicography. Firstly, it was the first bilingual and bidirectional dictionary of Polish and English. Secondly, up to the mid-twentieth century, it was the largest bilingual dictionary, which provided comprehensive data for users and, as research shows, for subsequent lexicographers. The English-Polish volume was published in 1849, while the Polish and English one in 1851.
When compiling his work, Rykaczewski claims to have relied on other dictionaries, as can be deduced from the full title: Dokładny słownik polsko-angielski i angielskopolski, czerpany z najlepszych źródeł krajowych i obcych, a mianowicie ze słowników polskich Lindego,Mrongowiusa i Ropelewskiego;z angielskich Johnson,Webster,Walker,Fleming,Tibbins i in. Tom [2] polsko-angielski, głównie przeznaczony dla pomocy Polaków zaczynających pisać i mówić po angielsku, zawiera pod każdym wyrazem przykłady jego użycia i zwroty powszechnie przyjęte tak w piśmiennictwie, jak i w potocznej rozmowie obu narodów. Even though Rykaczewski most probably did not take into account all the dictionaries mentioned in the title, he did pay attention to phraseologisms typical both of speech and writing. After a thorough analysis of the entire Polish-English dictionary I can confirm that it offers a significant number of MWIs. Each letter section, except for X and Y, contains phraseologisms as practical examples of usage. Interestingly, while a majority of them are labelled as proverbs, some are labelled as figurative or 'familiar' uses, and others are not marked at all.
For my analysis, I have selected 20 phraseologisms from the dictionary under scrutiny. Some of them are still used and known to Polish language users, and some of them were used only in specific regions of Poland and are now considered as archaic. In presenting them, I rely on the above classification, since phraseologisms in English are more widely described and categorized, even though it is not possible to find examples in Polish phraseology for each category. For example, some MWIs in Polish are not considered phraseologisms at all. Moreover, Rykaczewski's dictionary was created in the nineteenth century and he treated most phraseologisms as proverbs. It goes without saying that the twentieth-century classification mentioned earlier allows us to divide them into fine-grained categories. My findings will be followed by brief explanations. In addition, to attain a more detailed picture, I also looked up the MWIs in the English-Polish volume of Rykaczewski's dictionary. The headwords are marked in bold. To urge or press one hard; to be close upon one's heels, to frighten him out of his wits - The first example, (być) między młotem a kowadłem, refers to a situation with two equally bad choices. Rykaczewski used the equivalent idiom between the hammer and anvil for the English translation. The same example is presented under the headwords kowadło and młot. The English counterpart, however, is not to be found in the English-Polish volume. As far as usage is concerned, the Polish idiom was used, among others, in Adam Mickiewicz's Księgi narodu polskiego i pielgrzymstwa polskiego (1832). The next example, tonący brzytwy się chwyta, was translated as a drowning man catches at a straw. It denotes someone so desperate that s/he will try to use anything for help. In the English translation, Rykaczewski applied an adequate English idiom. The same Polish example can be found under the headword tonący, and under the headword straw in the English-Polish part. This Polish idiom was used, among others, by Słotwiński (1829).

Idioms
Rykaczewski translated the Polish phraseologism z deszczu pod rynnę in a similar way, using an English idiom, out of the frying pan into the fire, with a complementary meaning. It describes a situation when someone is moving from a bad situation to a worse one. The same MWI can also be found under the headword rynna, and under frying in the English-Polish volume. This expression appeared, for example, in "Przyjaciel ludu, czyli, Tygodnik potrzebnych i pożytecznych wiadomości" (Kościesza 1841).
The following example, strachy na Lachy, means that there is nothing to be afraid of. This time, Rykaczewski used semantic translation, the main objective of which is to convey a corresponding meaning, but the first word (vain or powerless) was not quite adequate, as the idiomatic status was not retained. The other translations (i.e. 'impotent threat, mere threats, empty threats') better reflect the meanings of the idiom. It can be found only under the headword Lach, but there is no example in the English-Polish volume. This Polish idiom was used by Zieliński in his book Drobne pisma poetyckie (1842).
The next idiom, ustawicznie haru, haru, can be found in the book Piosnki wieśniacze z nad Niemna i Dźwiny, niektóre przysłowia i idiotyzmy, w mowie sławiano-krewickiej, s postrzeżeniami nad nią uczynionemi (Czeczot 1846), containing songs and expressions typical of nineteenth-century peasants. It has been in use since the seventeenth century and means to work constantly, without rest. Rykaczewski translated it into English in a descriptive way, perhaps because a fitting equivalent was hard to find. It was included in the dictionary, only in the Polish-English volume, under the headword haru, haru.
Rykaczewski sometimes presented lexical or syntactic variants by connecting them with the conjunction or. This applies, for example, to the last idiom given in the above table, zajrzeć komu pod napiętek or wlać komu waru za napiętki, which means to annoy or bother someone. In this case, Rykaczewski once again used semantic translation. It appeared only once in the whole dictionary. It is worthy of mention that the same Polish MWI, in both versions, can be found in a Polish-German dictionary (1835) by Józef Kajetan Trojański. To tell idle stories, to speak at random, to talk nonsense -(kozioł) Wstydzi się jak kozioł w kapuście

Polish example English translation Example in the English
He looks ashamed or he shows to be ashamed of a thing he longs for; he has a bashful look for some hypocritical purposes - The first Polish simile, wlazł or potrzebny jak Piłat w kredo, means that someone is where he or she is unnecessary. Rykaczewski used semantic translation to convey the meaning of the simile into the English language. It can also be found under the headword włazić and potrzebny, but it was not included in the English-Polish volume. According to Kolberg (1875, 281), there used to be more culturally-marked Polish similes, including jak piąte koło u wozu and jak tarń w pięcie, but they are missing from Rykaczewski's dictionary.
The next example, różne jak niebo od ziemi, means that something is strikingly different. Here, Rykaczewski applied literal translation, as different as heaven and earth, but he also provided a formally corresponding English simile different as day and night. In any case, the English similes were more widely used in texts than the Polish phrase. A search through Google Books yielded only 17 hits, of which six come from different versions of the dictionary under scrutiny.
The simile dbam o to jak pies o piątą nogę is used when someone does not care about something. In this case, Rykaczewski applied the English idiom not care a fig, which also appears in the English-Polish volume. Under the headword piąty, moreover, we can find the following expressions with similar meanings: potrzebne jak psu piąta noga or jak piąte koło u wozu. It should be noted that this simile can be found in Samuel Linde's dictionary of Polish (1807-1814). 1 The next example, pleść jak na mękach 2 , is used when someone is talking foolishly or with no sense. Rykaczewski used semantic translation to convey the meaning into English, so the whole expression is comprehensible. The same simile can be found under the headword pleść and a similar one in the entry for gadać (i.e. gadać jak na mękach). There is no counterpart of either of them in the English-Polish dictionary. The Polish simile was used in the so-called Vilnius dictionary (Zdanowicz 1861) in the variants pleść, gadać jak na mękach and, among other things, in Henryk Rzewuski's Wędrówki umysłowe. Mieszaniny obyczajowe (1841).
The last Polish simile presented in the table, wstydzi się jak kozioł w kapuście, is used when describing someone ashamed, embarrassed by some trifle that he or she wants. Rykaczewski translated it in a descriptive way, conveying, quite effectively, the meaning of the phrase. It appeared only once in both volumes of the dictionary.

Polish example English translation Example in the English-Polish dictionary
(migdał) Niebieskie migdały The blissful regions, the joys of paradise -(biały) Biała płeć The fair sex (sex) fair sex -płeć żeńska, płeć piękna The first Polish compound presented in the table is niebieskie migdały, which indicates something unreal or amazing. Having found no idiom with an equivalent form, Rykaczewski resorted to semantic translation to express this meaning. There is also a related idiom recorded under the same headword: myśleć o niebieskich migdałach 'to dream, to muse, to go a wool-gathering'. The Polish compound niebieskie migdały was well-known, if only because it appeared in Trojański's Polish-German dictionary (1835) and was even the title of one of Kraszewski's novels (1876).
The second example, biała płeć, refers to a woman. A similar expression, the fair sex, functions in English and was used by Rykaczewski both in both volumes. According to the OED (Simpson 2000), it occurs in several variants, such as the gentle sex, soft sex or weak sex, but the fair sex is by far the most common. When the owl becomes falcon it flies higher than the hawk; when a silly man or woman becomes rich, they assume haughty behaviour -(niedźwiedź) Na niedźwiedzia skórę pije, a niedźwiedź jeszcze w lesie

Proverbs
One must not sell the bear's skin before he is caught - Proverbs are the most extensive group of phraseologisms in Rykaczewski's dictionary. Some of them are presented in the table above. The first example, góra z górą się nie zejdzie, ale człowiek z człowiekiem się zejdzie, indicates that it is easy for people to meet again. Rykaczewski used a proverb with a similar meaning as the English counterpart. The same English expression was included in the English-Polish volume under the headword friend. In the nineteenth century, this Polish proverb was used, for example, in Franciszek Dmochowski's Pisma (1843) and was also incorporated in Ropelewski's Polish-French dictionary (1847).
The next proverbial expression, pomieniał się stryjek na siekierkę kijek, is used when referring to someone who has made an unfavourable exchange. Rykaczewski used semantic translation to express its meaning in English. The same proverb is included in the entry for stryjek, but it is not to be found in the English-Polish volume. There was a great deal of variability in using this proverb. Mrongovius (1835), for instance, records it as mieniał się stryjek, dostał za siekierkę kijek. Rykaczewski's translation in understandable but does not fully reflect the cultural significance of the Polish proverb. His translation, by lacking the element of making an unprofitable change or transaction, is thus imperfect.
Another phraseologism, im dalej w las tem więcej drew, means that the more we get involved in something, the more problems arise. Interestingly, Rykaczewski chose an English proverb which means that the people heavily involved in religion are not always most pious. With hindsight, it was not the best way of translating this proverb, since the connotations in Polish and English are quite different. The Polish proverb was included in a textbook entitled Wypisy polskie: Dla użycia klassy pierwszéj szkół powiatowych prozą i wierszem (1831) by Jan Zakrzewski and I also found it in Krasiński's (1885) dictionary and the Vilnius dictionary (Zdanowicz 1861).
The next example, nie wywołuj wilka z lasu, means not to instigate trouble or not to evoke what we are afraid of. The same expression can be found in the entries for las and wilk in the Polish-English volume, but it is not in the English-Polish dictionary. In order to translate it, Rykaczewski used an English proverb with a similar meaning, when sorrow is asleep, wake it not, which can be found, among others, in A compleat collection of English proverbs (Ray 1817, 15).
The following Polish proverb, nie podejmuj się szaszku legawego pola, has functioned in the Polish language since the seventeenth century and is attested in Linde's dictionary (in the entry for siedzieć). This proverb means not to undertake something which exceeds one's ability. It was again translated by means of semantic translation, which must be seen as Rykaczewski's own coinage: it can be found in no other work. This proverb appeared under the headword legawy, only.
Another example, kiedy sowa skobuzieje wyżej lata niż jastrząb, was used to identify people who quickly gained a fortune and thus began to put themselves above others. Rykaczewski translated it in two complementary ways: literally (kobuzieć is a Polish archaism, which meant to become a falcon) and by semantic translation. This seems a good solution, as the combination of literal and semantic translations gave readers a full range of information on the Polish proverb. It can be found only under the headword kobuzieć.
The last Polish example, na niedźwiedzia skórę pije, a niedźwiedź jeszcze w lesie, means to make premature plans that may not be fulfilled in the future. Rykaczewski translated it literally and, by so doing, failed to provide its full meaning. The phrase appears in the dictionary only once.

CONCLUSIONS
The examples shown and described above represent only a small percentage of the phraseologisms included by Rykaczewski in his Polish-English volume. As has been demonstrated, not all of his translations were fully successful but phraseologisms, as elements unique to one language and culture, cannot always be paired with fully corresponding elements in another language. Still, Rykaczewski went to great lengths, firstly, to include the most common Polish MWIs and, secondly, to illustrate their meanings and area of usage. This supports the claim that the treatment of phraseological units is one of the reasons why his dictionary remained in use well into the twentieth century.
To sum up, when compiling bilingual dictionaries, lexicographers face a lot of difficulties in finding adequate equivalents of SL lexical units in the TL. This is due to cultural, linguistic and historical variations between different languages. There is no doubt that Rykaczewski likewise faced a difficult task the more so because he compiled the first Polish-English dictionary, and therefore had no other Polish-English works to draw on. After reviewing his lexicographical endeavour I can say that he must have been well groomed for his task. The majority of the TL equivalents are well-chosen and, on the whole, they explain the meanings of SL phraseological expressions fairly effectively. Whenever possible, he included formally-or semantically-related English counterparts. In other cases, he tried to explain, as accurately as possible, the meanings of Polish MWIs for the sake of language learners. Rykaczewski's dictionary was, at least for contemporary users, a good dictionary, with an extensive selection of phraseologisms and a multitude of examples of usage. For the modern users, some Polish examples and their English translations may appear quaint or even amusing, but historical Polish sources support and legitimize Rykaczewski's lexical choices.