Porog in Russian cultural and linguistic tradition

The article addresses the role of the lexeme “porog” (threshold) in traditional Russian culture on the basis of linguistic data. The analysis of its use in the literary Russian language and dialect reveals several motivational models originating from the archaic mythopoetic ideas about a threshold as part of a house. The understanding of this word as the boundary between space and time is most clearly and diversely represented in its meaning. At the same time, the word “porog” (threshold) can be used as one of the metonymic names of the house and personify everyone living in it. Equating a threshold with a whole house is also developed in some linguistic metaphors, including the use of this lexeme for naming the bottom relief of water bodies and the facts demonstrating the identification of a house and a human.