THE USE OF THE LEXEME ‘SEA’ IN ITALIAN PROVERBS

Abstract

The paper analyses twenty-nine Italian proverbs containing the lexeme ‘sea’ which are found in dictionaries and on websites. Their semantic analysis and that of their lexical structure as well as of their Croatian equivalents, if possible, is presented. This paper, unlike the previous ones, does not deal with contrastive analysis since its main concern is the semantic field of the word ‘sea’ as used in Italian proverbs. It covers several meanings, from the literal one which is ‘a vast area of salty water’ to the metaphorical ones such as ‘a long distance’, ‘a large quantity’, or even ‘unpredictability’. Distinguishing the meaning of a lexeme and the range of its semantic field is important for proper use. Therefore, proverbs, as a meaningful literary genre, enhance both the linguistic and cultural knowledge.