The word "a lot" entered the Russian literary language in the middle of the XVIII century. In the modern sense, a lot is a myriad of something or someone. Below we consider the history of the concept. Let us analyze the lexical meaning of the word. We give synonyms for the term under study. In the end, let's see how this word looks in the context of spoken Russian.
Etymology and vocabulary of the word "lot"
The history of this concept in literature penetrated with the book "Experiments of the Regional Great Russian Language", which were published in 1852. The lexicon of the writer Saltykov-Shchedrin also found the use of this word. This term was originally a word used in one area of Russian land - Kostroma. It came from a local dialect and meant "dense forest." This is mentioned in the dictionary of V. Dahl.
The second value, which was indicated by the aforementioned linguist scientist, initially determined the amount of something or someone that you can take with you, that is, a little. And from Polish, this word translates as "loss and damage."
A lot of things used to be understood as “captured, captured”. After that, the value of an indefinite set has already appeared. This word in modern Russian has a quantitative meaning. Darkness is darkness, so much that it does not count - that’s what a lot of it means.
Synonyms for the word "a lot"
The following synonyms can be selected for this concept:
- many;
- weight;
- a large number of;
- dark;
- a huge number;
- a bunch;
- crowd;
- legion;
- horde;
- herd;
- abundance;
- countless numbers;
- lots of things.
There are many synonyms for this word, it all depends on what it refers to. The word "a lot" can refer both to things and to people or phenomena.
Case Studies
Lots is the definition of large numbers. This is the name of the forest, and also the river, which flows through the Murmansk region. Therefore, you can give an example of the following phrases using this word:
- Today I have a lot of things planned.
- On weekends, there are a lot of people in the market.
- This boss has a lot of money, he does not understand our problems.
- It took a lot of time to do all the work.
- It was necessary to cross a lot of boats, but it was getting dark and it was scary to hit the road in sevens.
Indeed, the word is interesting. Its origin is Slavic. Used in ancient times by peoples living in a particular area. Values ranged from loss to forest and darkness. However, in modern spoken Russian, this word has become stronger in the sense of a large number of someone or something. A lot is understood as innumerable, too much of something.