Middle English Dictionary Entry

a indef. art.
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Entry Info

Forms a indef. art. Also an. Early forms: as subj., ane, on, o; as obj., ane, on(e, o, & (chiefly masc.) an(n)e, æn(n)e, en(n)e, en; after prep., chiefly ane, on(e, masc. also anne, æn(n)e, fem. also anre, are, hare, ore; gen. anes, æn(n)es, en(n)es.
Etymology OE ān one, inflected as an adj. In early ME, derivatives of various inflected forms are preserved, especially in the South. In the later ME of the Midland and the South, the indef. article appears as a and as an, being clearly differentiated in pronunciation and in spelling from the numeral ōn one. The variant a is used before words beginning with a consonant, the variant an before words beginning with a vowel, but not yet with the same regularity as in MnE. Before words beginning with a historical h (whether native or foreign) the variant an is more common than a, presumably because the h was not regularly pronounced. In the North, the article a, an was also differentiated in pronunciation from the numeral ān one, but the prevocalic variant an of the article and the numeral ān are spelled alike. The same situation obtains in early MSS of the South and the Midland before the change of ān to ōn. Inflected forms are common in the earliest ME texts (Peterb.Chron., the Homilies) and occur extensively, though not regularly, in Southern texts during the early part of the 13th cent. (e.g. Lay.Brut, Ancr., the Kath. group, Owl & N.). The Ayenb. has a subject form a, an and an object form an(e. Relics of inflected forms occur in Orm., Horn, etc. The use of the variants a and an is still unsettled in Orm., Glo.Chron.A, SLeg., etc. See P. Süsskand, Gesch. des unbestimmten Artikels im..Englischen (Halle, 1935).

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
Referring to an unspecified, or as yet unspecified, member of a class or representative of a type; -- (a) as the first unit in a noun phrase [the usual construction]; (b) before an adj. modifying a preceding noun phrase [emphatic]; (c) between a descriptive adj. and a noun; so poure a page, how comly a.., to dere a date.
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2.
Referring to a member of a class or to a representative of a type: -- (a) following a qualifying limiting adj. (rarely preceding it), such as ech, everi(ch, such, which, what-kin, what-manner, (early also a swuch); see definitions and quots. under ech, etc.; (b) following a quantifying limiting adj., such as al, half, nought, mani; see definitions and quots. under al, etc.
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3.
Referring to an individual exemplifying a type.
Show 1 Quotation
4.
Referring (a) to a specified number of units regarded as a set or as a whole; a twenty winter, a fewe wordes, etc.; (b) to a specified quantity or degree; a lite(l, a certein.
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5.
a dai, ~ wike, ~ yer, per day (week, year) [in part from prep. phrase on daie, etc.].
Show 5 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • c1450 Nicod.(3) (Eg 2658)19/29 : It was þe lawe þoo þat man hadde trespassyd aʒens aʒoþere þat me shulde bynde hym naked to sum tree & ʒyf hym xxxti lasshes.
    • Note: New form (error): ?aʒ ('aʒoþere').

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