Phraseology in earlier times and nowadays

Abstract

This article discusses the origins of phraseology and the main pioneers of the discipline. The discipline has origin in the creation of collections of proverbs and sayings from the Middle Ages to the present day. In earlier times collections of this kind were made throughout Europe primarily to help schoolboys with their Latin lessons. The article outlines some important collections of proverbs, both in prose and verse, from selected areas in Europe. In the middle of the 20th century, phraseology emerges as a field of study, where all types of phrases are investigated (idioms, proverbs, collocations, linguistic binomials etc.). Swiss scholar Charles Bally and later Russian linguist Viktor Vinogradov were pioneers in this field of study, which emerged as a field within Stylistics, Lexicology and Lexicography. In the latter half of the 20th century, experts in the German-speaking world took the lead in the field, and later scholars in Spain, France, Italy, Britain and the Nordic countries followed in the footsteps. The establishment and role of EUROPHRAS, the European Association for Phraseology, is also mentioned.