According to the semantic feature, the ready-made phraseological units, idioms, have nearly nothing to do with their separate components; the meaning of such a unit is entirely new, and the current meanings of the constituents far removed . Such an example is:
To say black is white
This idiom means ‘to lie’. It has absolutely nothing in common with its constituents and if we try to understand its meaning according to them, we shall misunderstand it.
Academician Vinogradov described the semantic change as a meaning which results from a peculiar chemical combination of words. (Arnold I. V.)
This seems a really nice comparison because an entirely new quality comes into existence. The semantic shift affecting phraseological units does not consist in a mere change of meanings of each separate constituent part of the unit. The meanings of the constituents merge to produce an entirely new meaning. Another example is:
This idiom means ‘to lie’. It has absolutely nothing in common with its constituents and if we try to understand its meaning according to them, we shall misunderstand it.
Academician Vinogradov described the semantic change as a meaning which results from a peculiar chemical combination of words. (Arnold I. V.)
This seems a really nice comparison because an entirely new quality comes into existence. The semantic shift affecting phraseological units does not consist in a mere change of meanings of each separate constituent part of the unit. The meanings of the constituents merge to produce an entirely new meaning. Another example is: