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DOI: 10.24234/wisdom.v25i1.966
SHAKESPEAREAN EPTONYMS OF BIBLICAL ORIGIN
Iryna KAZYMIR 1 Oksana HALAIBIDA | S Haiina KRYSHTALIUK1 Iryna SVIDER 1 © Natalia FRASYNIUK 1 ©
1 Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University, Kamianets-Podil-skyi, Ukraine
* Correspondence Oksana HALAIBIDA, Ohiienko st., 61, Kamianets-Podilskyi 32302, Ukraine E-mail: halaybida.oksana@kpnu.edu.ua
Abstract: The article considers the issue of understanding the nature of eptonyms (phraseological units that are implicitly connected to the author who coined them, have deep meaning and recognizable character) in the plays of Shakespeare. The purpose of the research is in giving insight into the semantic-structural process of eptonymization and explaining how the transformed phraseological units become intertextual elements with double character (express the author's individual concept and simultaneously have the reference to the Bible). The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the pragmastylistic and discursive paradigm. The method of double application proposed by L. P. Diadechko enabled the trace of eptonym coining. The findings suggest that some phraseological units of biblical origin become eptonyms through the process of derivation and modulation, employing the strategies of adaptation, addition or omission, substitution of some components, contamination of several phraseological units. Shakespeare's deep knowledge of the Scripture enabled him to make use of biblicisms in his writing to actualize the emotional, aesthetic, and thematic richness of his works. Further application of the research outcomes is promising for investigating the Shakespearean eptonyms of ancient origin.
Keywords: eptonym, phraseological unit, transformation, contamination, double application, Bible, biblicism.
Introduction
Speakers of the language accumulate a certain amount of knowledge, which is sufficient for the emergence of excerpts of popular texts (so-called intertexts) that have not only national significance, but become universal, understandable, and generally accepted. A great number of these
language units are phraseological units, and among them especially stand out phraseological units of biblical origin which are often marked by the term biblicisms (Andreichuk & Karami-sheva, 2000; Dzera, 2018; Ocheretna et al., 2022; Yermolenko, 2001; Zorivchak, 2006). As "the Bible has been an integral part of the history of Western philosophy" and "Biblical texts were
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themselves philosophical" (Cauchi & Kulak, 2015, pp. 491, 494), these phrases have a universal, socio-philosophical context. They have become an important constituent of the international phraseological fund and are widely represented in literary languages.
The influence of the Bible on the works of writers is undeniable. Different authors use biblical phrases and contexts in different ways trying to achieve a definite communicative-pragmatic influence on the audience. Hence, there is the possibility of interpretation and modulation of these phrases depending on the author's knowledge and perception of the text of the Bible. Identifying how the writers coined their own original set expressions is important for understanding how their general knowledge and worldview reflect the discursive aspects of language phenomena.
Shakespeare is considered to be one of the most productive authors of the aphoristic fund of the English language. Many phraseological expressions in his works have the Bible origin. But not all of them were directly cited from the Bible. Some of them underwent transformations and are widely used by native speakers. Such expressions are called eptonyms - phraseological units of synergetic character which combine individual-authorial and socio-cultural components. These language units are characterized by relative stability, reproducibility, emotional and expressive character, semantic integrity and relative motivation.
The objective of our research is to identify and analyze Shakespeare's eptonyms of biblical origin in order to understand the sources of extension of the phraseological fund of the English language. To achieve this objective we are to fulfil the following tasks:
1. to identify biblical phraseological expressions in the plays by Shakespeare and their counterparts in the text of the Bible;
2. to trace the mechanisms of Shakespeare's eptonyms' formation.
Literature Review
The consideration of phraseology of biblical origin is in the scientific interests of many researchers who in recent decades have enriched phraseological studies by analyzing the system-
functional characteristics of biblical idioms (An-dreichuk & Karamisheva, 2000; Dzera, 2018; Marx, 2000; Yermolenko, 2001). The texts of the Holy Scripture became an inexhaustible source of idiomatic material for the English language (Dzera, 2018).
Biblical elements have different interpretations in modern linguistics. They may be interpreted as phraseological units recorded in the text of the Bible that have a syntactic structure of a phrase and whose semantic unity dominates over the structural separation of the components that form the whole (Andreichuk & Karamisheva, 2000, p. 56). O.Dzera calls biblical intertextual elements biblemes (Dzera, 2018, pp. 62-63). S. Yermolenko actually limits biblical phrases to stable word-combinations that have acquired the status of phraseological units: "Biblicisms are expressions from the Holy Scriptures that are used in literary language, in particular in fiction and journalistic styles, with the aim of creating verbal and artistic images" (Yermolenko, 2001, p. 23).
We support the idea of R. Zorivchak (2006) who defines biblicisms as words and phrases (in the broadest sense of the term, including proverbs and sayings) which, taken from the biblical text, are widely used in speech, everyday life, and literature (p. 103).
The use of biblical elements in Shakespeare's writing was researched by E. Gray (2018), H. Hamlin (2013), Hassel & Clark (2015), S. Marx (2000), R. Noble (1970).
E.Gray (2018) states that Shakespeare intentionally employed biblical elements in his plays to add deeper levels of meaning and implications for audience members (p. 2).
R. Noble (1970) draws attention to masterful manipulation and skillful employment of biblical material in Shakespeare's writings (p. 22). Rather than merely alluding to biblical stories or historical episodes, Shakespeare far more frequently "quotes or adapts biblical phrases" with the specific purpose of strengthening the audiences' emotional reaction and deepening their investment in the dramatic storylines, making extensive biblical knowledge crucial to experiencing the emotional and thematic richness of his works (Gray, 2018, p.6).
Consequently, as it is acknowledged by Noble, Shakespeare not only quoted but also skillfully adapted biblical elements, creating some
phrases which, having their biblical origin, are connected implicitly with the playwright's authorship. These phrases are called eptonyms.
L. Diadechko (2002) difined eptonyms as recurrent quotation-like utterances, which can be traced back to the name of their real or alleged author (p. 144).
On the material of Germanic languages studies, the problem of eptonyms is considered, first of all, within the framework of the theory of quotation and integrated interdisciplinary studies (Arnold, 1990; Dzera, 2018). Ivanova (2011) mentions eptonyms as a source of extention of the phraseological fund of the language. They were actively studied in the aspect of semantics and linguistic axiology (Berkova, 1990), derivational features (Diadechko, 2002), structural and functional characteristics (Koval & Koptilov, 1975), cognitive semantics (Andreichuk & Kar-amisheva, 2000). There are separate studies of biblical eptonyms (Lysenko & Kulchytska, 2010). But structural-semantic characteristics of Shakespearean eptonymical fund of biblical origin have not found detailed coverage in the works of linguists and have become the object of our research.
Methodology
In our research we employed the method of phraseological description with elements of distributive and transformational analysis, synthesis and comparison. The descriptive method (observation, generalization, interpretation, classification, oppositional reception) is used for the research of:
1. procedures for collecting factual material taken from phraseographic sources, paremiolo-gical publications, and works of fiction;
2. description of the characteristics of the studied phenomena;
3. their systematization and classification;
4. interpretation of structural and semantic features of phraseological units;
5. analysis of the functioning of the studied units at a certain stage of language development. We also applied a functional method with elements of contextual-interpretive analysis which is developed within the framework of the pragmatic paradigm and involves the study of language in action, in the process of functioning,
taking into account the nature of language units and phenomena.
A special method of double application proposed by L. P. Diadechko (2002) is used in our study. This method consists of two stages: the first is the superimposition of a prototype (a text fragment taken from the original source) on a language unit that is easily constructed or is already present and known in the literary language, the second is the superimposition of phraseolo-gism on the prototype.
The first stage constitutes the formal and substantive features of the prototype, ensuring its eptonymic character.
The second stage reveals the specificity of the eptonym as a secondary nominative unit with an internal form that comes from the source text. The use of the double application method can determine objective criteria for distinguishing, on the one hand, eptonyms and idioms, and on the other - eptonyms and homonymous language formations which are not marked by authorship.
Participants
The material of our research is biblical phraseological units of the plays by Shakespeare selected from phraseological and quotation dictionaries (Kunin, 2005; Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, 2004; Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 2006; Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations, 2011; Ratcliffe, 2012; The Wordsworth Dictionary of Bible Quotations, 1995; Webster's New Explorer Dictionary of Quotations, 2000). Citations from the Bible are based on the sample of the Geneva Bible as it was both the most recent to Shakespeare's birth and the most influential on his writings. First published in 1560, the Geneva Bible became the most popular English version of the Bible for much of the next century (Hamlin, 2013, p.12).
Eptonym as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon is considered in our study both traditionally within the framework of phraseology and according to modern concepts of precedent and intertextuality. Eptonyms are understood as reproducible words/phrases/sentences (in particular, aphorisms, maxims, and sententia) that implicitly appeal to the concept "author" and tend to get phraseologized through derivational processes and the gradual loss of associative
connection with their real author or precedent text (Onishchenko, 2021, p. 22).
In our case, there are many phraseological expressions of Shakespeare, which have a biblical origin. However, as a result of evolution and active social familiarization, these expressions can act as eptonyms. The eptonyms, as authorbased units, "are a result of interaction of their authors and speakers - both language personail-ties, producing and reproducing the utterances" (Onishchenko et al., 2021, p. 1360).
In the English language studies, eptonyms were not considered as a separate object and traditionally were included in quotation or phraseological dictionaries. So, we referred the phrases to the eptonym corpus if:
• they function in at least three quotation dictionaries (Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations, 2011; Ratcliffe, 2012; Webster's New Explorer Dictionary of Quotations, 2000; The Wordsworth Dictionary of Bible Quotations, 1995);
• they are found in phraseological dictionaries (Kunin, 2005; Kyrpych & Barantsev, 2005; Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 2006; Siefring, 2004).
In the process of eptonymization, a rather important factor is the "strong position" of the relevant quotation in the original text, the selection of which is based on a psychological basis (Dia-dechko, 2002, p. 105; Onishchenko, 2009). The specificity of the prototype of the eptonym occurs due to the superimposition of two objects: first, it is an applied object, in the role of which the prototype acts - a fragment from a well-known linguistic and cultural author's text; secondly, the basic object on which the superimposition occurs, which is structurally equivalent to the prototype of the phenomenon of the national language as a result of the selection of nominative fund units and typical constructions.
Results and Discussion
D. Crystal (2008) wrote that "from Shakespeare we learn how to explore and exploit the resources of language in original ways, displaying its range and variety in the service of poetic imagination" (p. 232).
The English Bible was "the most fundamental
and universal" of all Shakespeare's "sources" (Ryken, 2010, p. 2). In the plays of the English playwright we find examples of his word for word idiom quotations from the Scripture and idiomatic derivations (a process of forming new idioms from the existing ones) (Kvetko, 2009, p. 25).
Thus, in the comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Act 3, Sc. 2) we find the phraseological expression apple of one eye's. In one of the episodes, the elf's king Oberon drops a love elixir on the eyes of Demetrius, who was asleep at the time, with the words:
Flower of this purple dye, hit with Cupid's archery, sink in apple of his eye (Shakespeare, 2022). This expression occurs on the pages of the Old Testament (32:10): he led him about, he taught him, and kept him as ye apple of his eye (Geneva Bible, 1560), Parable (7:5):
"Keepe my commandments, and thou shalt lieu, and mine instruction as the apple of thine eyes" (Geneva Bible, 1560). The phrase is borrowed from the Bible without any changes.
In the tragedy "Hamlet" (act 3, scene1) W. Shakespeare uses another biblical phrase - Woe is me! (OxfordEnglish Dictionary, 1989, p. 476). After talking to Hamlet, Ophelia says in despair: "O, woe is me, to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!" (Shakespeare, 2022).
The expression has a biblical origin and occurs in the texts of such Old Testament authors as Job (10:15) Isaiah (6: 5), Micah (7: 1) (Geneva Bible, 1560), and others. The prophets proclaim, "Woe is me!" in moments of sinfulness of human nature. In addition, this expression is found in the New Testament epistles of Paul.
So, in the plays of Shakespeare we find examples of accurate quotations of the Scripture, but in most cases, the author uses biblical phrases, and forms new idioms from the existing ones, employing "shortening, extension, conversion and analogous formation" (Kvetko, 2009, p. 24). Shakespeare makes various changes in both structure and semantics, which indicates the free use of biblical vocabulary and phraseology by the English playwright.
Thus, in the tragedy "Macbeth" (act 1, scene 2), the nobleman Ross greets the king with the words: "God save the King" (Shakespeare, 2022).
In "Richard II" (Act 4, scene 1) the king him-
self remembers with sorrow how those who betrayed him once rejoiced at his ascending the throne with the words "God save the King ".
This phrase comes from the First Book of Kingdoms (10:24): "And all the people shouted and said, God save the King" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
The expression also appears in the Second and Fourth Books of Kings, as well as in other Old Testament texts: "And when Hushai the Ar-chite David's friend come unto Absalom, Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the King, God save the King" (Samuel 16:16) (Geneva Bible, 1560).
We also find this expression in the national anthem of Great Britain: "God save the King" (possible variant "the Queen") (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 526).
At the same time, in his works, Shakespeare freely uses this phraseological unit, adding certain changes to its component composition. In the first part of "Henry IV" (Act 1, scene 2) the cynic Falstaff tells the future monarch: "when thou art king, as, God save thy grace, majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none" (Shakespeare, 2022). In this case, the author substitutes the second part of the phrase with "thy grace" and thus creates a play on words. In this case, the pun function of Shakespeare's eptonym is actualized, by substituting the lexical constituent of the idiom, Shakespeare achieves stylistic and communicative-pragmatic effect, expressing evaluation of the artistic reality.
In the second part of the same chronicle (Act 1, Scene 2) we record biblicism sackcloth and ashes (meaning "in complete remorse") (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 333): the young lion repents not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack (Shakespeare, 2022).
In the analyzed passage, the prince repents without sprinkling his head with ashes and without wearing his rough clothing made of hair and wool, which emphasizes his insincerity and comical shade of the description. We consider the basis of this Old Testament phraseological unit is the phrase from the Book of the Prophet Daniel (9: 3), which describes the sorrow of the Jews:
"And I turned my face unto the Lord God, and sought by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
Shakespeare uses the verb repent, which is
found in the Book of Job (42:6): Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Geneva Bible, 1560).
Falstaffs remark also sends us to the New Testament. In the Gospel of Luke (10:13) we find:
"Woe be thee, Chorazin! Woe be to thee, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
Therefore, the expression used by Shakespeare is a kind of author's "fusion" of three biblical phrases that describe the situation: the Old Testament in sackcloth and ashes, repent in dust and ashes and the New Testament (repent, sitting) in sackcloth and ashes. In this case, we observe the process of contamination, a "combination of the structural elements of two linguistic units which is based on their structural similarity or identity, functional or semantic proximity" (Yartseva, 1990, p. 238).
The phrase to wash one's hands (of smth) is usually associated with the New Testament. As a free combination we find this phrase in the Gospel of Matthew (27:24):
"When Pilate saw that he availed nothing, but that more tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look you to it" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
However, what Pilate does in front of the people is the ritual of washing hands, which is also described in the Old Testament (Deut. 21: 67): „
"If one be found slain in the land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who hath slain him, then thine Elders and thy Judges shall come forth, and measure unto the cities that are round about him that is slain. And let the Elders of that city, which is next unto the slain man, take out of the drove a heifer that hath not been put to labour, nor hath drawn in the yoke. And let the Elders of that city bring the heifer unto a stony valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley. Also the Priests, the sons of Levi shall come forth, and by their word shall all strife and plague be tried. And all the Elders of that city that come near to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley;
And shall testify, and say, our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it " (Geneva Bible, 1560).
The rite is performed if the killer of a person was unknown. In Shakespeare, this expression is used in the tragedy "Macbeth" (act 5, scene 1):
Doctor: "What is she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands ".
Gentlewoman: "It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour".
Lady Macbeth: "What, will these hands ne 'er be clean? ...Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabica will not sweeten this little hand" (Shakespeare, 2022).
In this case, in contrast to the biblical text, it is appropriate to mention the metaphorical nature of not only the rite, but also the phrase itself, which emphasizes the heroine's desire to be cleansed of a heavy sin.
The author uses this expression in the historical chronicle "Richard II", in which one of the central themes is the impossibility of atonement for treason. King Richard, whose murder prompted Bolingbroke to repent, warns the vassals (act 4, scene 1):
"Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands... And water cannot wash away your sin " (Shakespeare, 2022).
However, in the same play (act 5, scene 6) we find the author's fusion (contamination) of biblical phrases to wash one's hands Ta have blood on one's hands. The expression have blood on one's hands originates from the Book of Hezeki-ah (23:37):
"For they have played the whores, and blood is on their hands, and with their idoles haue they committed adulterie and have also caused their sonnes, whome they bare unto me, to passé by the fire to be their meate" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
This phraseological unit functions in the English language in a variant that is fixed in the phraseological dictionary by O.V. Kunin (2005): have somebody's blood on one's own head / hands (p. 910).
We repeatedly find examples of Shakespeare combining different phraseological units in his dramas. For example, in one of the episodes of the play "Henry IV" (part 2, act 1, scene 2), the admirable Falstaff plays on the words of the Chief Justice about his intention to become a
doctor for him: "I am as poor as Job, my Lord, but not so patient" (Shakespeare, 2022).
In the line "I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient..." appears the phraseologism as poor as Job (Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 2006). Thanks to the use of the adjective patient, we are talking about the fact that the second phrase is implicitly meant here - as patient as Job.
Shakespeare contaminates two idioms into one (as in the previous case, combines idioms with a common component, simultaneously using clipping).
In the play "Richard II" (act 3, scene 4) there is a phrase The Fall of Man (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 685), changed by the playwright. Outraged by her husband's news, the queen exclaims:
"Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden, how dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news? What Eve, what serpent, hath suggested thee to make a second fall of cursed man? " (Shakespeare, 2022).
In Shakespeare this expression looks like this: a secondfall of cursed man, thus we observe extension of phraseological unit: two new components are added - second and cursed.
I that very extract, the queen calls the gardener from whom she hears bad news - old Adam's likeness, emphasizing the sinfulness of human nature (he is like sinful Adam).
The basis of Shakespeare's phrase is the phraseological unit the Old Adam (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 137), which comes from the New Testament (Paul's Epistle). For example, the Epistle to the Romans (6:6): "that our old man is crucified with him" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
The set expression old man is also found in the Epistle to the Colossians (3:9) and Ephesians (4:22). But the author certainly takes us to the Old Testament, hinting at the guilt of the hero. Adam decided to break God's commandment, and the gardener dares to speak about the defeat of his master and, moreover, considers he deserved it.
In his plays, Shakespeare transforms (modulates, using sense development) entire biblical quotations, adding new meaning to them. An example may be found in one of Hamlet's lines (Act 2, Scene 2), when he declares:
"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and
moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so " (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 659).
Shakespeare's phrase What a piece of work is a man! comes from the biblical text, although Shakespeare significantly changes (modulates) the phrase. This is indicated by the statement in the Book of Job (7:17):
"What is man, that thou doest magnify him, and thou settest thine heart upon him?" or from Psalm (8:4) David asks: "What is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him...".
Of course, the heroes turn to this eternal philosophical problem for different reasons, they have different grounds: Job complains about his troubles, David thanks the Creator for everything he created and made, and Hamlet expresses his skepticism about the greatness of man. In the latter case, it no longer looks like a question from Hamlet, but simply a desire to understand who he is and what he was created for, that is, he has his own opinion, his own view.
Some biblical idioms, while preserving their form and component composition, are presented in the plays of Shakespeare with a slightly different meaning. So, for example, in "The Comedy of Errors" (act 3, scene 2), while describing his admirer, the servant Dromio complains to his master about her profuse sweating. Antipholus advises him to remedy the situation with water. Dromio declares:
"No, sir, 'tis in grain; Noah's flood could not do it" (Shakespeare, 2022).
Shakespeare uses the phrase Noah's/The Flood ('universal flood'), which corresponds to the physical cleansing of an individual, while the flood was supposed to clean the earth of all human sins.
Noah's name and a hint on the Old Testament story associated with him also appear in the comedy Twelfth Night. Convincing the untalent-ed Sir Andrew of his niece's favor, Sir Toby and his servant Fabian declare (Act 3, Scene 2):
Fabian: I will prove it legitimate, sir upon the oaths of judgement and reason.
Sir Toby Belch: "And they have been grand-jury-men since before Noah was a sailor (Shake
speare, 2022).
On the one hand, the characters try to persuade Sir Andrew to stay, showing how long reason and judgment can serve people. On the other, there is a hint that this is how they honored the great flood, which was a kind of retribution from God for the moral fall. It therefore served no pious purpose, as indeed in this case, for Sir Toby beguiles and fools Andrew by promising to marry his niece to him, while he himself uses his money.
One can recall the biblical episode and bibli-cisms derived from it: Noah's Ark (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 632) and Noah's/The Flood.
In addition, there is an allusion to a fragment of the New Testament (Gospel of Matthew 24:38): "...until the day that Noe entered into the ark" (Geneva Bible, 1560).
As we can see, some Old Testament phraseological units are not used directly in Shakespeare's plays, but the author masterfully plays with their meaning, uses semantic contamination and modulation of different phrases from the Bible, thereby reviving in the minds of readers these set expressions themselves.
In the comedy "Love's Labour's Lost" (act 1, scene 2), Don Adriano de Armado is worried that he is a prisoner of love, because he has been conquered by a girl of low rank and not noble origin. After considering his feelings, Armado declares: "yet was Solomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit" (Shakespeare, 2022).
The phrase conveys the meaning of the expression: wisdom of Solomon (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 422), which comes from the title of the Book of Wisdom of Solomon, and on the other hand - from the text of the New Testament (Gospel of Matthew (12: 42): "the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ".
Shakespeare not only uses transformed biblical idioms, but later, as the research shows, he creates his own, which turn into eptonyms over time. So, for example, in the drama "The Merchant of Venice" we find an eptonym: Daniel come to judgment, which has become widely used in the English language.
The meaning of the eptonym is defined in the phraseological dictionary as wise judge (Oxford
English Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 2006, p. 272). We note that it was the apocryphal story of Susanna who was slandered by the elders, which provided the basis for the reception of Daniel as a perceptive judge.
In Shakespeare's play, the old usurer Shylock is unable to resist the young Portia, disguised as a judge, who is trying to save her lover's companion. She receives a comforting compliment from the cruel and vengeful old man when she acknowledges his legal right to the ugly debt of the bill (a pound of meat) before effectively disarming Shylock with her arguments against him (Act 4, Scene 1):
Shylock: "A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!" (Shakespeare, 2022).
In the comedy "Twelfth Night" (act 2, scene 5), Sir Andrew sends a rather strange insult to the butler Malvolio, who pretends to be a powerful nobleman: "Fie on him, Jezebel" (Shakespeare, 2022).
Thus, when his disobedient wife introduced the worship of the Phoenician god Vaal into the country, it was readily accepted by her wicked husband (Third Kings 16). Jezebel made every possible effort to destroy all the prophets of the Lord. In addition, by her order, Nafuwei, the owner of the vineyard, was stoned to death for refusing to give it to Ahab.
In the etymological dictionary, the noun jezebel is recorded as a common name in the following meaning: "has given her name for all time a fierce old woman" (Shipley, 1948, p. 430).
This word was used to describe women with bad character. In the Oxford English dictionary, jezebel is interpreted as a "wicked, impudent or abandoned woman" (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 232).
In the time of Shakespeare, Jezebel was perceived as something bad, swearing, and could be addressed to both men and women.
Shakespeare's eptonym out-Herod Herod, which means to surpass Herod himself, becomes known from the biblical scene about Herod, the leader of Judea, who ordered the killing of male infants. We find it in Shakespeare's text of the tragedy "Hamlet":
I would have such a fellow whipped for o 'erdoing Termagant: it out-Herods Herod: pray you, avoid it (Shakespeare, 2022).
Thus, Shakespeare uses the strategy of coin-
ing new words on the basis of adaptation. Conclusion
A number of English eptonyms have a Biblical origin and are associated with the name of Shakespeare. The writer vastly employed Biblical phrases in his plays and often transformed them using the strategies of substitution, contamination, shortening, extension, and modulation of their structural elements. Such phrases were quoted and acquired cultural significance but at the same time appealed to the concept of their author/text. They became eptonyms.
Focusing on the semantic realization of phraseological meaning in speech contributes to the identification of the mechanism of meaning generation. Eptonyms, as transformed idioms, have a powerful pragmatic effect, they make it possible to express the additional sense that the idiom in its traditional usage cannot express.
The biblical origin of certain expressions of Shakespeare serves as an anticipatory context. Therefore, we can conclude that based on our research, the expressions that have a biblical origin, namely A Daniel come to judgment; What a piece of work is a man!; to out-Herod Herod, not only function as eptonyms thanks to the precedential personality of Shakespeare, but also contain an anticipatory biblical context. Energetically strong and aesthetically acceptable, they become linguistic signs of dialogical and intertextual relations. Biblicisms foreground the evaluative, linguistic, and aesthetic effect of the fiction text and have a pragmatic influence on the readers when the audience is well-versed in Scripture. The thematic breadth and universality of the writer's life and philosophical generalizations, the importance of his creative heritage for both English and world cultures contribute to the frequent appeal to the eptonyms of Shakespeare. The results of the research can be used for studying eptonyms of ancient origin in the works by Shakespeare.
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