many expressions in our speech borrowed from ancient myths, the Bible or literary works.Very often, using them in his speech, we do not think about their origin, although each deserves attention and has its own history.Many of them have become part of our everyday life, such as a sword of Damocles.The value of this expression is the looming danger, which could collapse at any moment, despite outward prosperity.
This idiom comes from Greek mythology, in particular from the "Tiskulanskih conversations" Cicero.According to this source, in the same realm of Greek rule was in the hands of the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse.The king was all in abundance, servants did not dare disobey him, and all the people accepted his one-man rule.He ate the best food, drink fine drinks from gold glasses and spent time in the games and feasts.From the side it looked like a carefree life, and many of his subjects wanted to be in his place.
sword of Damocles.The value of the expression
One approached the king was noble Damocles.He made no secret of their desires and intentions taste of the royal life.Dionysius decided to show him how to be a ruler in fact, that the burden of the royal responsibility and to live in fear, thinking about the possible betrayal approximate.
sit on the throne of Damocles, the tyrant punish subordinates to obey him in everything unquestioningly carry out any of the orders and to honor worthy of a king.Believing himself the happiest of mortals, Damocles took their temporary stay in the place of the king at face value.It seemed to him that he is on top of the world.Suddenly, sitting on the throne, he saw hanging over his head on a thin horsehair sword.He was suspended from the tip and can be broken down, hitting it at any time.
This legend explains the origin of this phraseologism like the sword of Damocles.Meaning it comes to the prevention of the danger that may suddenly arise in the misinterpretation of the situation.Understanding the looming threat of Damocles returned awareness of reality from which he wanted to turn away.
What has taken Dionysius, very clearly demonstrated the great men, there is no happiness if the person hangs over the "sword of Damocles".The value of this expression is used in a figurative sense, it indicates there is a threat and a feeling of constant danger for external peace.
people communicate among themselves, often using idioms in his speech that briefly, but very succinctly describe the situation.In Russian, there is a large number of winged phrases and expressions that make our speech concise, but not dry.The value of set phrases is to give an emotional speech and greatly enhance the sense of these words.They are indivisible and have meaning only when they are used correctly.
value set phrases are not the sum of the meaning of individual words within them, and represent a single lexical unit.They do not allow the substitution of words or permutations.For example, if the expression "sword of Damocles" (meaning phraseologism we already know) to use in another form, such as "sword of Damocles", meaning it will be lost.No wonder these combinations are called stable.The most important feature of phraseology is considered to be their ability to briefly describe the action, situation or emotional state.
our speech becomes more colorful, if we use the "winged" phrase.For example, if we use the expression "sword of Damocles" (meaning phraseologism - possible threat), it will be immediately clear that the apparent prosperity lies the real danger, which can interfere with every day of our existence calm and serenity.
