[Lexicog] an English idiom

[John Roberts]

Thanks, David. From what I can see from the contributions on this list 'swallow up' (meaning 'consume') can and has been used figuratively beyond the Holman Bible translation. But that doesn't establish "my soul is swallowed up in sorrow" as a conventionalized idiom in English. Also since the figurative sense of 'swallow up' is readily understable from this expression it is technically not a non-compositional idiom.

So my conclusion is that "my soul is swallowed up in sorrow" is not an English idiom in any understanding of the term 'idiom' and I wouldn't enter it in a dictionary of English idioms.

John Roberts
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