Parallel sources, different outcomes: a corpus-based study of the ‘far from X’ construction in Dutch, English and French In language change, parallel source constructions can undergo cross-linguistically divergent devel-opments. The focus of this paper is on one such case, the development of degree modifiers from markers of physical distance. Specifically, we compare the histories of Dutch verre van, English far from and French loin de – all three consisting of an adjective/adverb and a preposition, and all three meaning ‘far from’. The first purpose of our study is to analyze to what extent the parallel source constructions have developed degree modifying uses. Data from the BNC show that English far from can be used as de-gree modifier with gerunds and adjectives (cf. De Smet 2012). (1) this competition, far from resolving the problem of security, in fact exacerbates it (BNC) (2) Nutty was far from sure, and Biddy looked doubtful. (BNC) Data from the COW corpus (Schäfer & Bildhauer 2012) show that Dutch verre van has undergone constructional specialization: it acts as an adverbial downtoner in more than 87% of the cases (3), whereas its formal variant ver van is exclusively used to indicate spatial or metaphorical distance (4). Moreover, contrary to English far from, verre van can occur without a complement (5), signaling an even more advanced degree of adverbialization. (3) Nee, dit is verre van plezierig. (NLCOW 2012) ‘No, this is far from pleasant.’ (4) Iquitos ligt niet zo ver van Brazilië en dat is te merken. (NLCOW 2012) ‘Iquitos is not so far from Brazil, and that shows’. (5) Ik zeg niet dat hier alles beter is, verre van, zou ik haast zeggen. (NLCOW 2012) ‘I don’t say that everything is better here, far from (it), I would almost say.’ Contrary to Dutch, French loin de combines the spatial, metaphorical (6) and degree modifying use (7). However, syntactically loin de does not act as an adverb, but always functions as a complex prep-osition (with nominal complements), even ...