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h idioms. For example, “bear the palm” (戴棕榈枝) has a figurative meaning “the symbol of victory”. In ancient Rome, a bullfighter who won in the sports arena would bear the palm as the symbol of victory. Similar idioms are “worth one’s salt” (称职), “thumbs up” (赞成) and “thumbs down”(反对，贬斥).     
                                          
1.2  The influence of Teutonic Conquest                         
It was roughly in 449 A.D. that three Germanic tribes lived in the northwestern part of Europe, including Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They sailed across the North Sea, and invaded the British isles taking advantage of the downfall of the Roman Empire. It was not until the end of the 6th Century that the inhabitants, Celts, disappeared completely. That was how Teutonic Conquest came into being. Although these three tribes had their own dialects, they all belonged to “Low West Germanic”. With the development of society, a new language came into being: Anglo-saxon. As a matter of fact, Anglo-saxon was the origin of modern English. To be more exact, west saxon was considered as “Standard English”. Let’s take a glance at the following idioms: “cut someone to the quick”(伤害某人的感情), which is from ancient Saxon has the meaning “hurt someone’s feelings”; and “go through fine and water”(赴汤蹈火).

1.3 The influence of Scandinavians
Because of the invasion and occupation of Scandinavians, the culture of northern Europe had greatly influenced most areas of England. Many English names came from Scandinavians, for example, “son” in “Jackson, Stevenson and Johnson” derived from Scandinavian. The influence of Scandinavian on English idioms came to summit under the rule of King Canute. Perhaps you are quite familiar with these idioms: “rain cats and dogs” (倾盆大雨) which comes from the European mythology. The main God of https://www.51lunwen.org/languagethesis/  Norsemen is Odin. The dog or the wolf symbolizes “wind”, whereas the cat symbolizes “rain”. As a result, “cats and dogs” symbolize “heavy rain”. Author is “six of one and half a dozen of the other”(半斤八两).
              
1.4  The conquest of Normandy
The conquest of Normandy also greatly influenced the English idioms. It made French become a part of English, and anyone who could speak it, was regarded as a fashion. Wearing French clothes, having French hairstyle and eating French dish became the symbol of status in society. Therefore, many English idioms came from French by means of literal translation. Such as “take heart” from “prendre coeur”, and “stew in one’s own juice” from “cuire dans son jus” and “have the courage of one’s opinion” (有勇气坚持自己的意见) from “avoir le courage de son opinion”.

1.5  The influence of wars
        Although the wars made the people live in a miserable life, they made great contribution to the formation of English idioms. During the wars, as new weapons appeared constantly, the words about them followed. Then those words were widely spoken, and became idioms having ne本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。