Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Saturday, September 7, 2002, 16:07 |
Philip Newton scripsit:
> That reminds me... English is the only language I know (though that's
> not saying much on a global scale) where the indefinite article "a, an"
> is distinct from the numeral "one".
>
> They surely have the same origin, but they look different in
> contemporary English.
Well, in Spanish the masculine indef. art. is "un" (as in "yo soy un
hombre sincero"), but the masc. number is "uno" (as in "tres mujeres
y uno hombre", a phrase I got by googling).
In Dutch likewise "en mens" is "a person", but "een mens" is "one person".
In editions of Wittgenstein, "ein" is written with an e-acute when it means "one".
--
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