Nazwy własne w funkcji metaforycznej (na polskich i rosyjskich przykładach prasowych)

The article is about the metaphorical usage of proper names and their place beyond the language system. Proper names quite frequently appear in modern (Polish and Russian) journalistic texts as a part of metaphors. These are, for example, such expressions as polski Hitler, Гитлер без вермахта, Himalaje wszelkiego zakłamania, “гималаи” пивных и водочных бутылок, Nowy Jork we wschodnim stylu, подмосковный Версаль, katolicki Gorbaczow, этакий черногорский Обломов, nasz Leonardo da Vinci, сегодняшние Корчагины, Мересьевы, Гагарины and others. A name loses its system properties in figurative usage. That means the name does not denote or distinguish a particular person or place that was originally designated by it, but begins to be seen as a meaningful unit. Metaphors with proper names in their structure are created from connotational meaning of a proper name, which is a given social group’s unlimited knowledge of the object that the name refers to, in its basic use.