The article deals with similarities and differences (including those
based upon the cultural specificity) in the variability of the idiom to have
a cross to bear and its functional equivalence across English, Russian, and
German. Despite all the (quite obvious) differences in morphological modifications
and syntactical transformations of these idioms, the evidence seems to
suggest the similarity of lexical and lexico-syntactical modifications, such as the
insertion of adjectival or adverbial modifiers into the idiom. This similarity may
be explained by the common Biblical source of those idioms, the constant quoting
and recitation thereof, as well as the convergence of a cross to bear with to
bear a burden (in other words, a link to the metaphor HEAVY IS HARD, which
appears to be a language universal).
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