De la symbolique à l'expression idiomatique: Etude comparée de quatre noms de couleur français et leurs équivalents en arabe

الملخص

From symbolism to idiomatic expressions: A comparative study of four French colour terms and their equivalents in Arabic Abstract This paper investigates symbolism and connotations of four French colour terms: white, black, red and blue. Connotative meanings will be classified as ameliorative, pejorative or neutral. Following this classification, focus will be put on French idiomatic expressions formed with these terms, stressing their meanings and contexts of usage. The equivalent Arabic colour terms will be introduced and compared with French to illustrate similarities and differences between the two languages. This study shows, on the one hand, that these two distant languages and cultures share many connotations. On the other hand, it shows that they are very rich in idiomatic expressions. Therefore, the research has been limited to four basic colours. Keywords: colour terms, connotations, idiomatic expressions, French, Arabic