History and development of the intensifier ot korki do korki

This article investigates the appearance and evolution of the idiom ot korki do korki ‘from cover to cover’. Based on dictionaries and data from the RNC and Google Books, we have estimated the approximate period at which the construction started to be actively used in written speech, and attempted to explore its possible sources, specifically, the similar idiom ot doski do doski. We distinguish four stages that allow to observe the
broadening of the semantic compatibility of these two idioms as they developed from maximizers into abstract intensifiers. It is suggested that both idioms, together with other similar constructions (ot rassveta do zakata ‘from dawn to sunset’, etc.), may be instances of a wider construction cluster from X to Y (ot X do Y). This cluster should be further investigated to identify other common traits of similar expressions.