AboutNatasha Kozyreva Expertise You can ask me questions on the Russian language, literature and culture. As a resident of Saint-Petersburg, I'd be glad to answer questions about it as well.
Please, what is the exact meaning of по in посередина (in the middle)? Can you give me other examples of по used in the same sense?
All the best, and many thanks,
Simon
Answer Hello Simon,
Unfortunately, there is no such word in the dictionary of etymology available to me, so I can only make a guess.
As you know, посередине, which doesn't inflect, means "in the middle" - в(на) середине. Therefore I think the part по- should be the substitute of "в/на" and is probably derived from the preposition по ("on the surface of" etc.: по полю, по морю, по линии). However, the word has been around for centuries and it is difficult to say for sure what the meaning of the по- was/is and give other examples.
