A Forgotten Idiom with the Meaning of Measure and Degree

Abstract

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’.