Towards the history of two constructions with the idiom ne v primer

The paper is dedicated to the Russian idiom ne v primer that serves as an anchor in two comparative constructions. The constructions, referred to as ne v primer-1 ‘in contrast to’ (Vasja, ne v primer Pete, sdal èkzamen ‘Vasya, in contrast to Petya, has passed the exam’) and ne v primer-2 ‘by far (better, etc.)’ (Vasja ne v primer lučše Peti ‘Vasya is by far better than Petya’), are examined in terms of their semantic and formal properties,
status in contemporary Russian language, and diachrony (18th–21st centuries). Initially, in the 17th–18th centuries, the expression (ne) v primer exhibited compositional semantics. However, it later underwent lexicalization and became the anchor for ne v primer-1 and ne v primer-2. The paper explains the nature of the shift from compositional uses of the expression to ne v primer-1 and explores the further diachronic path of
the construction, showing how is was grammaticalized and began to function as a preposition. A similar conclusion is drawn for ne v primer-2: some features observed during its evolution may indicate grammaticalization of ne v primer. Yet the origin and the exact mechanism of the development of ne v primer-2 remains unclear, as the examined written sources are insufficient to reconstruct it. Four hypotheses are proposed about how the construction ne v primer-2 might have arisen.