очень
Russian edit
Etymology edit
Unknown:
- Often interpreted as inherited from Old East Slavic *очьнь (*očĭnĭ) from око (oko, “eye”); the semantic shift might be "visibly > obviously > prominently > very". The non-productive ending is similar to adverbs like вкривь (vkrivʹ), впрямь (vprjamʹ), встарь (vstarʹ).
- Alternatively, proposed by Lehrman (1987) to be a borrowing from a Finnic language. Compare Finnish oikein and Ingrian oikiin.
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
о́чень • (óčenʹ)
- very, really, much, very much
- Synonyms: изря́дно (izrjádno), весьма́ (vesʹmá), дю́же (djúže)
- Тако́е случа́ется о́чень ре́дко. ― Takóje slučájetsja óčenʹ rédko. ― This happens very rarely.
- Я о́чень люблю́ тебя́. ― Ja óčenʹ ljubljú tebjá. ― I really love you. / I love you very much.
- Э́то о́чень тру́дно. ― Éto óčenʹ trúdno. ― It's really hard.
Predicative edit
о́чень • (óčenʹ)
- (colloquial, chiefly in the negative) not very good, not very well
- Всё прошло́ не о́чень. ― Vsjo prošló ne óčenʹ. ― It didn't go very well.
- Дела́ иду́т не о́чень. ― Delá idút ne óčenʹ. ― Things aren't going very well.
- Всё вы́глядит не о́чень. ― Vsjo výgljadit ne óčenʹ. ― Things don't look very good.
- Э́то звучи́т не о́чень. ― Éto zvučít ne óčenʹ. ― That doesn't sound very good.
References edit
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “очень”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Alexander Lehrman (1987) “The Etymology of OЧEНЬ”, in Russian Linguistics, volume 11, number 1, pages 31-36