--- David Barrow <davidab@...>
wrote:
> a- is a reduced form of OE ge in alike
> aware
Ah, good.
> a prefix meaning 'out' in arise abide
> it's a reduced form of preposition 'on' in 'a
> hunting' 'a building' for
> example but in this case hunting is a gerund
> (verbal noun) not a present participle
Not that you can tell in Modern English!
> What examples do you have with a- as a present
> participle marker?
The ones you called a gerund! :)
> >When you think about it, "a" in such phrases
> >really can't be the indefinite article,
> because
> >the noun that follows is always plural. (Can
> >anyone think of any exceptions?)
> >
> lot is singular so it can take the indefinite
> article
Except I don't understand it as a noun there,
exactly: not "a lot". It doesn't make any sense
to me that way. Hm.
> lots is the plural alternative
> we also have
> an amount of
> a number of
> a quantity of
Allright, there's some. All of which are in fact
nouns and couldn't be recomposed into *aquantity.
But afew, etc., I think can be taken as survivals
of a- intensive.
Padraic.
=====
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.
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