ABSTRACT This article draws attention to noun-intensification, in particular to the intensifying adjective right, as in a right idiot, a right mess. Drawing on corpus data for Present-day and historical English, the study describes the Present-day English use of this intensifier and then delves into its history. It is shown here that the intensifying function is attested much earlier than suggested by the OED (mid-twentieth century), with relevant examples from the sixteenth century onwards, particularly in Restoration comedy. Its disappearance from the historical record is an effect of the ‘bad data’ issue: the intensifying adjective right has always been associated with very informal, even bawdy, spoken language, a register which was not regarded adequate for the stage or for any other form of literature in the Augustan and Victorian periods. The article also proposes a developmental pathway for the intensifier at issue which shows some parallels with those followed by other noun-intensifiers such as complete or very and highlights the importance of both intralinguistic (e.g. grammaticalisation and subjectification) and extralinguistic issues (the impact of the Reformation, drama conventions and censorship) for this development.

中文翻译：

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正确的继承人，正确的白痴和糟糕的数据。强化形容词权利的历时性

摘要 本文提请注意名词强化，特别是强化形容词 right，如正确的白痴，正确的混乱。该研究利用当今和历史英语的语料库数据，描述了当今英语对这种强化词的使用，然后深入研究了它的历史。这里表明，强化功能的证明比 OED（二十世纪中叶）所建议的要早得多，相关例子从十六世纪开始，特别是在恢复喜剧中。它从历史记录中消失是“不良数据”问题的结果：不断强化的形容词权一直与非常非正式的，甚至是淫秽的口语联系在一起，一种被认为不适用于舞台或任何其他形式的语域奥古斯都和维多利亚时期的文学。