Sui francesismi fraseologici in italiano

Research into the etymologies of higher lexical units is still relatively recent. The recent blooming of phraseological projects and the current abundance of and easy access to historical documentation make a close examination of the origin and history of some of these elements timely. Based on some examples, the close relationship between French and Italian phraseology is illustrated here, proposing among other things three hypotheses of borrowing from the former language to the latter: figlio or figlia di papà 'young man who is aided excessively in life and career by his father's prestige and wealth', literally 'father's son/daughter' , girarsi or rigirarsi i pollici 'stay idle, inactive', literally 'to twiddle one's thumbs', mettere alla porta 'to dismiss, to send away, to kick out', literally 'to put someone at the door'. In other cases (a tentoni ~ à tâtons 'blundering, fumbling', adagio Biagio ~ à l'aise Blaise 'expression that calls for caution') the kinship between Italian and French expression is evident but it is difficult (or conceivably impossible) to reconstruct whether this is a transfer from one language to another and in which direction.