по

Forms

по (po)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic по (po), from Proto-Slavic *po.^[1][2] The preposition is common Slavic: Old Church Slavonic по (po), which renders Ancient Greek κατά (katá), μετά (metá) and ἀνά (aná), Ukrainian по (po), Belarusian по (po), Bulgarian по (po), Serbo-Croatian по (po), Czech po and Polish po.^[3] It is also a prefix, ⟨по-⟩, of nouns and verbs.^[3][4] Another vowel grade, *pa-, is the prefix ⟨па-⟩ of пагуба and память.^[3][5]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *po (beside a long-vowel ⟨*pō⟩).^[4][5] Its relatives include Lithuanian pa- and the preposition po, Latvian pa (“under, across”), Old Prussian pa-, Latin pōnō (“to put”), from ⟨*po-sinō⟩, Albanian pa (“without”) and Hittite pē (“thither”).^[3][4] Further, Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”) and ἐπί (epí, “on”) are compared.^[3][5] Vasmer notes that Slavic ⟨*po⟩ is partly traced to *pos, seen in pas (“at, by”) and post (“after”).^[3] Shansky gives “behind, after” as its first meaning and connects it with поздний.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chudov Psalter of the 11th century uses по with the genitive in the sense “after”: „Нъ по оноя славы много прѣложение прияхъ” “but after that glory I suffered a great change”.^[7] In a birchbark letter from Novgorod of 1166–1167 it has the dative, по первому пути “by the first road”.^[8] Chernykh dates the Old Russian word from the 11th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian used по with four cases: the genitive and the locative for time “after”, the dative for space and distribution, the accusative for limits.^[7] The Lay of Igor's Campaign has its spatial use: the bard Boyan “spread in thought over the tree, as a grey wolf over the earth” (по древу… по земли).^[9] The distributive use is in the Russkaya Pravda: а куръ по двою ему на день “and two hens a day for him” (a 14th-century copy of a 12th-century text).^[7] From the 11th to the 17th century по was both a preposition and a verbal prefix.^[4]

Ozhegov treats the по- of adverbs such as по-моему “in my opinion” and по-русски “in Russian” as the same prefix.^[10]

Timeline

• 11th century – по “after” in the Chudov Psalter.^[7]
• 1166–1167 – по первому пути in a Novgorod birchbark letter.^[8]
• end of the 12th century – по древу, по земли in the Lay of Igor's Campaign.^[9]
• 14th century – distributive по двою “two each” in the Russkaya Pravda, a copy of a 12th-century text.^[7]

Meanings

Preposition

1. With the dative: along, over, about, on a surface or within an area: идти по улице “to walk along the street”.^[11]
2. With the dative: round places that are visited: ходить по магазинам “to go round the shops”.^[11]
3. With the dative: at or for the target of an action or feeling: тосковать по дому “to be homesick, to miss home”.^[11]
4. With the dative: in a field of activity: учебник по физике “a textbook of physics”.^[11]
5. With the dative: according to, by: жить по правилам “to live by the rules”.^[11]
6. With the dative: because of: по ошибке “by mistake”.^[11]
7. With the dative: by means of: по телефону “by telephone”.^[11]
8. With the dative: at a recurring time: по субботам “on Saturdays”.^[11]
9. With the dative or accusative: each, in a distributive sense: по яблоку каждому “an apple each”.^[11]
10. With the accusative: up to, as far as, until: по колено в воде “knee-deep in water”.^[11]
11. With the prepositional: after, on: по возвращении “on return”.^[11]

Word family

• потом
• поэтому
• по-моему
• по-русски
• посему

Related words

• поздний
• Old East Slavic по (po)

Usage notes

The preposition is unstressed, except when the stress moves from a noun onto it, as in по́ носу “on the nose”.^[12] The verbal prefix по- makes perfectives and verbs of beginning, of a short or limited action and of a repeated action (пойти “to set off”, поспать “to have a nap”, покрикивать “to shout now and then”).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 2, s.v. по
3. ^ a b c d e f Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 292–293
4. ^ a b c d Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 142
5. ^ a b c Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. по
6. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Ivanov, V. V.; Shanskaya, T. V. (1975), Kratkij ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка], 3rd ed., Moskva: Prosveščenie, p. s.v. по
7. ^ a b c d e Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 15, 114
8. ^ a b Avanesov, R. I. et al. (eds.) (1988–), Slovar' drevnerusskogo jazyka (XI–XIV vv.) [Словарь древнерусского языка (XI–XIV вв.)], vols. 1–13, Moskva: Russkij jazyk / Azbukovnik, p. s.v. по
9. ^ a b Vinogradova, V. L. (1965–1984), Slovar'-spravočnik «Slova o polku Igoreve» [Словарь-справочник «Слова о полку Игореве»], 6 vols., Moskva / Leningrad: Nauka, p. s.v. по
10. ^ a b Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. по...
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. по
12. ^ Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. по