Russian and Chinese phraseological units of religious themes with components-numerals five, seven and ten

Din Lina ORCID: 0000-0002-0379-6839 Postgraduate student, Department of General and Russian Linguistics, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 21 1042215065@pfur.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Language, culture and religion, which are important factors in the formation of national mentality, influence each other. Language serves as the main means in interpersonal communication and intercultural communication, since the main function of language is communicative, in addition, specific elements of the culture of the native speaker of this language are fixed in it. Religion plays an important role in shaping the national picture of the world. Russian Russian, for example, had an impact on the emergence of the Old Slavonic language – the first written language of all Slavs, and on the development of the Russian language, penetrated into the depths of Russian folk culture, material and spiritual. In recent decades, the topic of the relationship "language-culture-religion" has attracted many researchers, including I. V. Bugaeva ^[1], N. B. Mechkovskaya ^[12], A.V. Me ^[11], A. B. Ranovich ^[15], Zhu Ruiwen ^[22], etc. A comparative analysis of phraseological units with a religious component in the aspect of linguoculturology deserves special attention, since phraseological units play an important role in creating a linguistic picture of the world. The tasks of this article are carried out with the help of a linguoculturological analysis of some fragments of the national mentality reflected in the mirror of phraseology.

"Number is one of the basic concepts of mathematics used for quantitative characterization, comparison, numbering of objects and their parts" ^[10]. However, in addition to the counting value, Yu. M. Lotman notes the special significance of numbers and numerical symbols in the history of culture, a great many cases when a number acquires, in addition to its main digital value, some additional cultural and typological ones ^{[7, p. 430]}. Therefore, Russian and Chinese phraseological units with a numerical component of religious themes are of considerable scientific interest. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe the similarities and differences in the spiritual identity of the Russian and Chinese ethnos on the material of phraseological units with a component–the numeral five, seven and ten in the linguoculturological aspect. Note that in comparative terms, phraseological units with a numerical component were studied mainly on the material of Indo-European languages ^{[2; 14; 19, etc.]}, whereas there are not so many works that comprehensively consider the similarities and differences of these units in Russian and Chinese ^{[4; 8; 18, etc.]}, therefore the novelty of this work lies in the fact that the study of the naive picture of the world of the two peoples through the analysis of phraseological units of religious themes.

Russian Russian phraseological units extracted by continuous sampling from the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Biblical Phraseological Units (2010)", authored by K.N. Dubrovina and the "Dictionary of Russian Phraseology, Historical and Etymological Reference Book", and 24 Chinese phraseological units taken from the dictionaries "Buddhist Phraseology" and "Chinese Big Dictionary" served as the research material. Chengyu: historical and etymological reference book".

Russian Russian and Chinese religious-themed phraseologisms with numerical components five, seven and ten were analyzed in Table No. 1, and it was found out that in the Russian language phraseologisms with numerical components mainly originate from the Bible, some from paganism; in the Chinese language Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism occupy an important place in creating a picture of the world, which is reflected in phraseology.

Table No. 1. Russian and Chinese religious feuds with numerical components five, seven and ten

Diagram No. 1. The ratio of Russian and Chinese FE with numerical components five, seven and ten

The data in Diagram No. 1. show that the number seven played an important role in Russian and Chinese linguoculture, especially in the religious sphere.

1. The number "five"

In the Bible, the unit five, first of all, is a symbol of responsibility, which is repeatedly manifested in expressions and quotations, such as five veils, five crossbars, five pillars, "And make an altar of acacia wood five cubits long and five cubits wide ..." ^[17], here the size of five by five means that Christ on the cross assumed full responsibility for fulfilling the requirements of God's righteousness, holiness and glory ^[17]. The Gospel of Matthew contains a well-known parable about the five foolish virgins and the five prudent ones, in which the number five consists of four plus one, meaning that a person (whom the number four designates), to whom God is added (whom the number one designates), is responsible. It should be noted that the fact that five virgins are unreasonable and five are prudent does not mean that half of the believers are unreasonable and the other half are prudent. It expresses the idea that all believers are responsible for being filled with the Holy Spirit ^[17].

In the Russian language, there was a proverb without five prosvirs there is no mass, which arose on the basis of a pious tradition – to pray before eating, which acquires a connotative meaning – a good preparation for action.

The Chinese language has a special sympathy for the number five, mainly in connection with the ancient philosophical category of Wu-xing (, w?x?ng), representing the five elements of the Universe ("water", "wood", "fire", "metal", "soil"), which are characterized by two main cyclic interactions: mutual generation and mutual overcoming. According to the doctrine of the five primary elements, the five colors (, w?s?, blue, red, yellow, white and black) correspond to the five Tsang organs (, w?z?ng): liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys. In the Chinese traditional picture of the world, five is a holy and mystical number that acts as a symbol of the center of the world () and the fundamental rule (?)). Laozi used the phraseology (Taoist. Eyes scattered, full of color in the eyes), to describe the confusing and complex worldly life. We have identified the key importance of the considered stable combinations - "diversity". The analysis of phraseological units of Buddhist origin with component five allows us to conclude that their semantic structure is complicated by the meaning of "all, completely", for example, (Buddhas. To prostrate; to bow to the ground, five parts bow together with him: the forehead, two hands, two knees and two feet. Obr. in meaning: to be in awe of someone, to be treated with deep respect, to feel the greatest admiration); (Buddha. – five Skanda (All Dharmas, distributed in five groups of Skanda: ? rupa – sensitive; ? vijnana consciousness; ? vedana – feeling, perception; ? sanjna processes of discernment; ? samskara – all processes) ^[21]. A person consists of these five skandas.

2. The number "seven"

"Seven is one of the most amazing numbers. Seven is a number of the spiritual order that rules the world, which symbolizes creation and creation" ^{[13, p. 12]}.

The number seven is a Christian symbol that is widespread in different cultures ^{[9, p. 77]}, in Christian culture seven is considered a holy, mystical number, since this number has been repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, for example, the seven sacraments, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven virtues and deadly sins, the seven Archangels, the seven prophets, the seven-day fast and repentance, here the seven has a sacred meaning, symbolized completeness, completeness and perfection. In Russian culture, seven is a symbol of something excessive: behind seven locks (seals) – something absolutely incomprehensible, inaccessible, in deep secrecy; seven deadly sins are the most serious and unforgivable vices; to be in the seventh heaven is to be very happy ^{[9, p. 77]}. Bibleism behind seven locks comes from the Old Slavonic language, and other variants of it are known, "the most common of which is a secret with seven seals (perhaps because a book with seven seals is some kind of secret knowledge, information to which there is no access, an incomprehensible secret)" ^{[20, p. 304]}.

In the Chinese language, a phraseology of Taoist origin with the component seven (Taoist. Smoke poured out of seven holes. Seven holes – eyes, ears, nose, mouth. Obr. in meaning: "lose your temper, flare up with anger"), has the invariant meaning "excessively".

The expression is seven Fridays a week, according to a comment in the Dictionary of Russian Phraseology. Historical and etymological reference book" ^{[16, p. 99]}, goes back to the pagan cult of the goddess of fertility, water, rain, the patroness of motherhood Mokosha. The day of the goddess Mokoshi, Friday, was a day free from work. On this day, it was forbidden to spin, bathe children, start some kind of business, etc. Christianity transferred all the attributes of Mokosha to the day of St. Paraskeva Friday. On Friday it was necessary to fast, to remember the dead. Fridays were trading days, and thus the deadline for the fulfillment of trade and debt obligations. The one who did not fulfill his obligation promised to fulfill it on the next market day – the following Friday ^{[5, p. 36]}. In modern Russian, this phraseology means a person who "very often and unexpectedly changes plans, moods, etc." ^{[5, p. 36]}.

Seven, in the Chinese worldview, refers to the concept of death, since the seventh month (July) is popularly considered the "evil month". The fifteenth of July according to the lunar calendar is traditionally called the "Day of the Dead". "This is one of those periods of the year when, according to popular belief, the gates of the underworld are open and the souls of the dead can enter the human world" ^{[6, p. 77]}.

In Taoism, seven, being a cycle of movement, denotes the consistency and order of the Tao, thus a number of expressions related to the number seven arose: (Taoist. Seven Stars); (Taoist. The seven beginnings – the Sun, the Moon and the five major planets); (Taoist. Qisha – the evil spirit of the element Metal); (Taoist. Seven treasures – gold, silver, lapis lazuli, tridacne shell, agate, coral and rock crystal or pearls and biotite), etc. Phraseological unit of the Taoist. The triple spiritual principle and the seven unclean animal spirits in the human body), of Taoist origin, is used to refer to the human soul. In the phraseology of Taoist origin (Taoist. After drinking a miracle drug, a person can repeatedly come back to life) the idea of immortality is.

Examples of phraseological units containing structural elements ?...?... (seven times... and eight times ...) and built on the vivid figurative meaning of "disorder", are the following turns of the Chinese language: (Buddha. Seven – somersault, eight – sideways. Obr. in meaning: incoherent, chaotic – about speech; in disorder); (Buddha. Crumble in disorder); (Buddha. Seven arms and eight legs. Obr. in meaning: to fuss, in turmoil, in a hurry); (Buddha. In confusion, seized with anxiety, the heart was beating furiously), transmitting a negative emotional and evaluative coloring. Phraseology of Buddhist origin (Buddha. seven senses and six passions) was used to describe emotions inherent in all mankind, seven feelings – joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, hate and sexual desire; six desires, six passions (generated by the six indriyas, see: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind).

3. The number "ten"

The number ten in the Bible denotes human perfection and completeness, completeness without flaws ^[17]. Ten fingers of the hands serve as a visual illustration of this perfection and this completeness. In addition, the Ten Commandments were also given to man for his perfection and completeness. The phraseological unit of biblical origin, the Ten Commandments, in modern Russian has the meaning of "the basic rules that must be followed in any business, enterprise" ^{[20, p. 136]}.

The Chinese numeral ten has also acquired a connotative meaning, symbolizing "completeness, perfection": (conf. Completely and without flaw; perfect in all respects). The most convenient counter for ancient people is fingers; in both languages, the word ten seemed to be the largest number earlier, hence another connotative meaning of this number arose – "a lot", for example, in Chinese: ? ( (conf. There are many beautiful plants growing in the world that are easy to care for. But if you take them and leave them to dry in the sun for one day, then leave them in a cold place for ten days, then they will die. Obr. in meaning: "study (work) with long breaks, from time to time, in fits and starts, somehow"); (conf. lit. ten eyes are looking, ten hands are pointing; you can't hide from the human eye; all eyes are fixed on someone -L. Obr. in meaning: "under the strictest supervision of the masses"). In addition, a typical phraseological model is noted ?...?... (ten times... and nine times...), used to denote a larger proportion of the total, for example, (conf. Painful, pain throughout the body); (tao. Out of ten houses, nine are empty. Obr. in the meaning: "about the devastated area").

Conclusion

Thus, numerical associations reflect the folk worldview and traditional linguistic features. Native speakers of Russian, as well as native speakers of Chinese, are representatives of peculiar digital cultures. It is established that the numeral phraseological units with components five, seven and ten in both languages reflect "their acquisition of figurative and metaphorical meaning, as well as a certain connotative coloring" ^{[3, p. 34]}. Thus, Russian phraseological units with components-numerals seven and ten mainly convey the connotative meaning of completeness, completeness and perfection. In Chinese, phraseological units with components seven and ten have a closer connection with Taoist teaching than with Buddhism or Confucianism. Thus, the comparative study of numeral phraseological units in both languages contributes to the penetration into a different cultural reality, the understanding of the ethnocultural specifics of the numerical code associated with the religious sphere.