Discussion on question by Mitsuko: Why do Russians call their women expensive ("дорогая")?

Feeds

13:20

Q: Why do Russians call their women expensive ("дорогая")?

My question is in the title of this post, and I do not know what else to say. I am just puzzled. Okay, to avoid my post being put on hold for being too succinct, I will add a couple of naive thoughts of mine. I originally thought that "моя дорогая Наташа" means something along the line, "Natas...

Quassnoi

English "dear" originally meant "expensive" too, and its German cognate teuer still does. Same for Italian caro. It's a very common trope across the languages of the world.

Mitsuko

@Quassnoi Indeed, I just checked this. I am surprized...

Anixx

It means "of high value", "valued".

IMil

@Quassnoi an adverb "dearly" is still quite likely to mean "expensive" or "costly", even if in a metaphorical sense. "To pay dearly for the mistake", etc.

Anton Danilov

This doesn't mean expensive but dear exactly like in english

Mr Lister

13:20

Is "дорогая" actually cognate with "dear", or is that a coincidence?

Quassnoi

@mrlister the English word is only traced back to Proto-Germanic so it's a coincidence as far as we can tell.

Vladimir F

This is not a Russian speciality, it was usedthis way already back in the Proto-Slavic times.

Douglas Held

Try "precious" and see how that works...

mathreadler

It is not weirder than English speaking people calling each other my dear or an Italian saying cara mia. It does not express a cost but a value. You are valuable (to me).

Rugnir

@Quassnoi in some dialects it is still used that way. For example in northern england, where I'm from, people will use dear to refer to price. Example: "Go and buy us some apples, and also some strawberries if they're not too dear"

Pedro Lobito

13:20

Caro has the same connotation in Portuguese, expensive/dear

1 hour later…

Pierre Cathé

14:23

FYI French has this too: "Chère amie..."

Dmitry Meshcheryakov

14:58

Yes, the word дорогой just has many meanings. I want to give a couple of examples when the meaning is clear:
"этот кинотеатр - дорогой" - structure like this can mean only high price.
"этот человек мне дорог" - I value this person.

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