Milli mála - 2022, Page 61

MILLI MÁLA
60 Milli mála 14/2/2022
Abstract
Hönd í hönd, mano a mano, Hand in Hand.
On binomial pairs once again
This article deals with linguistic binomials in Icelandic, Spanish and
German. The study of binomials, a sequence of two words which
belong to the same grammatical category and form a pair linked by
connectors, belongs to the field of the Phraseology. Here the focus is
on the structure where the same word appears in both members. At
first, word pairs, their role, nature and characteristics are discussed
in general as well as their motivation, structure and function. Then
we turn to the classification of the word pairs in focus, i.e. those
formed according to the formula X+connecting word+X. Examples
of such doublets in Icelandic is lið fyrir lið, página tras página (‘page
after page’) in Spanish and Tag nach Tag (‘day after day’) in German.
Then there is an account of word pairs that deviate from this con-
struction, that is, where no connecting word appears in the pair, but
a punctuation mark such as comma (X, X) or when the words stand
side by side without connection (X X). The core word is the same
in the binomial: lengi lengi (‘for a long long time’) or not: nauðugur,
viljugur (‘forced, willing’). Examples of such word pairs in Spanish are
todo todo (‘literally everything’) and in German schnell, schnell (‘quick’).
Finally, linguistic trinomials, or triplets, and linguistic tetranomi-
als and multinomials are mentioned, fixed expressions which are
rather rare in the three languages under discussion. The use of word
pairs has always enriched the language and made it substantial and
nuanced. This applies to the three languages discussed in this article.
Keywords: phraseology, word pairs, Icelandic, Spanish, German
HÖND Í HÖND, MANO A MANO, HAND IN HAND
10.33112/millimala.14.1.3