от века

• ИСПОКОН (СПОКОН substand) ВЕКА <-ов, -у obs>; ОТ ВЕКА (ВЕКОВ)

[AdvP; these forms only; adv; usu. used with impfv verbs; fixed WO]

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⇒ starting long ago and continuing up until the present (or the moment indicated):

- from (since) time immemorial;

- from (since) the (very) beginning of time;

- from the dawn of time;

- for centuries.

     ♦ ...Какой-то человек вошел на пустырь с косой в руках и начал сечь травяные рощи, росшие здесь испокон века (Платонов 1)...Some man came into the field with a scythe and began to hack away at the grass thickets that had grown there from time immemorial (1a).

     ♦ "Бог дал простолюдину язык вовсе не для разглагольствований, а для лизания сапог своего господина, каковой господин положен простолюдину от века..." (Стругацкие 4). "God didn't give them [simple >] a tongue for talking, but for licking the boots of their master, the noble lord, who has been placed above them from the very beginning of time.. " (4a).

     ♦ "По умершим молятся люди испокон веков" (Айтматов 2). "People have been praying over the dead for centuries" (2a).