The Metaphor of ALCOHOL in the Romanian Slang

Abstract

This article aims at treating the lexical field of the ALCOHOL, which is extremely rich in all slangs, including the Romanian slang. Without pretending to be exhaustive – which is practically impossible under the conditions of a veritable plethora of terminology conveyed in this field – we will merely offer a series of metaphors that name alcohol, both those that are most well-known and some that are surprising. These metaphors and metaphorical constructions prove that the inventiveness of slang users is inexhaustible. Thus, due to the fact that the idea that alcohol is a medicine is deeply rooted in the popular mind of Romanians, what I have called the ‘medical metaphor’ is very well represented in the Romanian slang (e.g. doctorie – from ‘doctor’/‘physician’ + suffix ‘-ie’ – means ‘spirit drink’). Especially at the declarative level, religious Romanians also use the religion-related vocabulary to use words that they attribute with an ‘alcoholic’ meaning, e.g. agheasmă (sl. agiazma or ngr. αγιασμα – agiásma), which translates into ‘holy water’, also means ‘spirit drink’ and is part of the ‘religious metaphor’.