The article tries to reveal the national particularity of usage of borrowed phrasemes, to show that despite their international character they function differently in different target languages adapting to culture, traditions, reflecting national psychology. The semantics of the same phraseological calque varies to some extent in various languages. The context of usage, frequency and relevance to the culture may vary significantly. The article describes some phrasemes with supplemental words, semantic extension, cases when collocations undergo further mataphorisation. Among the international phrasemes to be compared are some borrowings from the Bible, classic phrasemes of antique origin, mythologems. The diachronic processes leading to alteration of frequency, coining or losing of some connotations are also studied. The phraseme is considered to be like a living thing which adapts to a cultural environment and reacts to the changes occurring in it. The article contributes to cultural linguistics, helps to find the ways of fruitful intercultural communication.
semantics, phraseological calque, culturally marked components of meaning, extension, frequency, contextual usage.
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