God Knows How It Turns Out: On Three Constructions Including Bog ‘God’, Čert ‘Devil’ and Some Taboo Words in the Russian Language Over the Last Three Centuries

Abstract

Abstract The constructions with the anchor [Noun-Nom Verb (meaning ‘to know’)] are very productive in Russian. In this article we show that variables such as Bog ‘God’, čert ‘devil’ and xer/xren ‘X/horseradish’ have some common patterns, as well as some shifts with exclusive patterns in semantics and constructionalization.