Ivana Lončar
Ever since Plato’s Cratylus, proper names, the main object of the investigation in onomastic studies, have caused great scientific interest and intrigued many throughout the ages because of numerous categorical characteristics they present. Meaning, sense and referential value of proper names, in their opposition to common names/nouns, have been the most elaborated theoretical aspects in the history of linguistics (and philosophy). This paper presents preliminary results of the analysis of Croatian phraseology units and idioms containing proper names, as well of those considered international (Ahilova peta / talón de Aquiles / Achilees’ heel; Kolumbovo jaje / Huevo de Colón / Egg of Columbus), and those belonging to the national and regional phraseological inventory. The investigation is based on the phraseological units confirmed in two national corpora and by the speakers of the contemporary Croatian language, and intends to provide a classification, cultural interpretation and their possible phraseological equivalents in Spanish.