Issues d’équivalence en grec et en anglais argotiques : les cas de « malákas », « ghamó » et « fuck »
Journal Title: Argotica - Year 2014, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
The words “malákas” and “ghamó” are two of the most frequently used words in Modern Greek (MG) slang. The word malákas (“wanker”) displays wide polysemy in MG (Xydopoulos, 2008: 257-258) and increased productivity. Interestingly, this word’s polysemy is mapped into English with multiple equivalents (as “wanker, motherfucker, asshole, masturbator, fuckhead” etc.). The word “ghamó” (“fuck”), though, displays an analogous polysemy and intense productivity but is mapped into English with the derivatives of “fuck” (see Sheidlower, 1999). Therefore, it appears that these two words have followed a different path in MG slang. We argue that the word “malákas” has been detabooed within Greek society and developed autonomously in MG. On the contrary, the word “ghamó” appears to have evolved under the influence of the English “fuck”, which has been de-tabooed within British/American society.
Authors and Affiliations
Katerina Christopoulou, George J. Xydopoulos
Keywords
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