A Forgotten Idiom with the Meaning of Measure and Degree

Widely understood semantics of quantity includes the meaning of measure and degree, from the maximal intensity of a feature, the meaning of 'very', to its complete absence, the meaning of 'not at all'. In Russian speech, the prepositional-dative combination po + dative case in one of its uses turns into a sample, a prototype formula. For instance, the reproducible combinations po chesti – by honour, po sovesti – by conscience and po pravde – by truth reflect the meaning 'correctly, properly', recorded, in particular, in the Small Academic Dictionary. The Russian National Corpus shows that by the end of the twentieth century a similar usage was formed in the combination po umu – by mind. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the sema 'sample' in combination with the sema 'maximal manifestation' or 'total absence of a sign (action)' was observed in the expression that has gone out of use today: ni po bulatu – (nor) by bulat. The internal form of the combination refers to Damascus steel as a model of strength, durability, resilience and sharpness. In the examples from the texts of A. O. Ablesimov, I. M. Dolgorukov, A. A. Shakhovsky and G. F. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko ni po bulatu – (nor) by bulat means, apparently, 'not at all, not in the slightest'. In M. N. Zagoskin, the formula byt’ chestnym po bulatu – to be fair by the bulat comes close to the meaning 'in the highest degree’.

phraseology, idiom, semantic shift, meaning of quantity, meaning of measure and degree, semantics of modality, intensity, absence, prototype meaning