«На безрыбье и рак рыба»: история выражения и диалектика оценок

Abstract

The study topic is the origin and evaluative semantics of the Russian proverb «In the lack of fish, the crayfish is fish». The author emphasizes the internationality of the proverb idea; put forwards the hypothesis about the relation between proverb binomial «crayfish – fish» and the text of «Praying» of Daniel the Immured; reveals consistent patterns of the proverb usage in speech that are related to contextual increasing / decreasing of value of the object that is sufficient in the absence of choice.