Russian is the richest language in the world. That is why even the everyday speech of a Russian person is filled with accurate comparisons and phraseological units. This allows a person to more expressively convey emotions, feelings and state of mind. Therefore, winged expressions are widespread in huge numbers in our country.
What is phraseologism?
These are stable phrases that do not have an author. They can be used by any person and are a sign of literacy and intellectual enlightenment of the interlocutor. If the speaker uses winged phrases, such as, for example, "Sit in a puddle", "Sharpen a tooth", then it is safe to say that such a person is well-read.
Not every phrase or expression subsequently becomes phraseological unit. To do this, it must have several features, the main of which is imagery and brevity. A group of words should accurately describe the sign of an object or action in order to firmly enter the vocabulary of people.
Phraseologisms are revolutions of speech. This means that with their help a person tries to convey his thought more clearly and correctly, as well as achieve mutual understanding during a conversation with other people. Often we don’t even notice that we use winged expressions in everyday life. This is proved by the fact that idioms tightly entered our speech and are an independent part of the language.
The expression "sharpen your teeth"
This phrase is a phraseological unit. This can be proved using the arguments of any winged expression as arguments.
So, the following features will help distinguish phraseologism from a phrase:
- Phraseologism is a complete semantic unit of a language. This means that it is used ready-made, and not invented by a person during a letter or conversation. People use the expression "Sharpen a tooth", and the interlocutors immediately understand what is at stake.
- Phraseologisms are designed to induce the interlocutor to some action or evoke certain emotions in him.
- Phraseologisms consist of two or more words, their structure is constant.
Based on the presented list of signs, we can confidently say that the phrase is a phraseological unit.
"Tooth Sharpen": meaning of expression
Many winged expressions have several interpretations. And the phrase “sharpening teeth” is no exception.
The first and main meaning of the phrase is used to say about a person who is angry with another, accumulates rage and harbors malice against someone. You can also say that “sharpening your teeth" means hating someone and striving to harm that person.
The second version of the interpretation is almost completely opposite to the first. So, the other meaning of the phrase “sharpen a tooth” is: to stare, to have a great desire to get something.
The origin of the expression
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Many phraseological units have come to us from distant times. They were created by folk wisdom. For this reason, phraseological units are taken from folk tales, songs, from proverbs and sayings. For centuries, expressions have been passed from mouth to mouth, and so they have become commonplace. Now it is impossible to state with certainty the reason for the origin of this or that phraseologism, but linguists and scientists put forward versions and theories about the appearance of phrases in Russian.
In turn, the phraseology “sharpening a tooth” has not only several meanings, but also several theories of origin.
First theory. During the hunt, traps were set to catch the bears. The trap must be a worker so that the hunter does not endanger himself. To prevent the bear from breaking out, the trap's teeth were sharpened very sharply. This is where the phrase “sharpening teeth” came from, which meant that someone was being attacked, putting his life in danger.
Another theory is related to a Viking tribe that lived in ancient times. During the excavation of their mass graves, one interesting, but at the same time terrifying feature was discovered. On the teeth of each buried Viking were notches, nicks, injuries. Archaeologists have suggested that so the enemies of the Vikings "marked" the prey, indicating who committed a certain act. Therefore, it is likely that this phraseology came from a terrible ritual of ancient times.
Thus, it is impossible to say exactly how and when the expression appeared, but both theories prove that the meaning of the phrase "sharpen a tooth on a person" is rather negative.
Examples of use in speech
Phraseologism "sharpen a tooth" is often used in speech. Moreover, this expression can not be unconditionally attributed to either the colloquial or book style. This means that it can be used both in a work of art and in ordinary everyday communication.
Catherine Wilmont in her book, The Secret of the Green Monkey, wrote:
“But instead of going to the cinema, discos and walking, she finds herself in a whirlpool of strange and frightening events. Someone is clearly sharpening a tooth on her and Matilda.”
Here you can see how phraseologism is used in the meaning of "get angry with someone, strive to do harm."
The following example of N. Leikin illustrates the use of the same phraseology, but in a different meaning:
"The guy is good. Our whole village grinds a tooth on him."
Phraseologism here means trying to get someone or something.