Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails. German figures of speech with animalistic components (“CAT”) and their slavic equivalents

The paper discusses cultural and linguo-cultural aspects of German and European figures of speech with the animalistic component “cat” and their Slavonic equivalents. The connotations connected with this animal are very different even in one culture and have been changed within several times. In many European proverbs and sayings the cat is in contrast with the dog and becomes a symbol of sexually explicit behaviour. Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Polish and Kashubian as well as German phrases are widely used for characterization of people. With the help of examples the behaviour and the characteristics of the animal are described as cultural universals and in national literally and figuratively fixation.