Hönd í hönd, mano a mano, Hand in Hand. On binomial pairs once again

Abstract

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 construction, 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 tetranomials 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