an

an¹ indefinite article

Etymology tree of an¹

inherited borrowed derived

Old English ān

English a

English a-

English an

English one

From the same root · an¹

English apiece ← a

English adrift ← a-

English ahead ← a-

English akin ← a-

English aloof ← a-

English aloud ← a-

English arouse ← a-

English ashore ← a-

English aside ← a-

English asleep ← a-

English atop ← a-

English atypical ← a-

English alone ← one

English anyone ← one

English atone ← one

English everyone ← one

English oneself ← one

Etymology

The word for the indefinite article is inherited from Middle English an, inherited from Old English ān (“one”),^[2][3][4] an unstressed form of the numeral that also gave one,^[5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *ainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *oi-no- (“one, unique”).^[8] It is the older and fuller form of a.^[8][5][9] The OED explains it by the shortening of the long vowel of the numeral when the word stood unstressed before its noun, which probably happened before 1150, ahead of the rounding of long ā in southern and Midland Middle English.^[6] The tie between the article and the numeral remains plain in French un and German ein.^[8][10] In the use meaning "per", the OED traces the word to the preposition a, a variant of on, used with adverbs of repetition; it now counts as the article.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The indefinite article, marking a noun as one of a class: before 1160, in the Peterborough continuation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[6] Etymonline likewise dates the article to the 12th century,^[8] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged puts it before the 12th century,^[2] Dictionary.com before 950,^[11] and the Shorter Oxford in Old English.^[12] The OED notes a few earlier reduced forms in the Lindisfarne Gospels and the West Saxon Gospels, but thinks they may be scribal carelessness.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old English had no regular indefinite article: "he was a good man" was he wæs god man.^[8] Once the numeral weakened, an lost its final consonant before consonants: by 1150 the Midland dialect had a there, while the southern dialect kept an before a consonant as late as 1340.^[5] The earliest Middle English texts still inflect the word, and later Middle English sets a and an apart from the numeral ōn, although not yet with the modern regularity.^[4] An stayed in use before w and y until the 1400s, and before a stressed h (an hundred) down to the 1600s;^[5] in Middle English it was the commoner form before a historical h, presumably because the h often went unpronounced.^[4] Chaucer has a 5,389 times and an 606 times.^[13] Johnson (1755) described it as meaning "one, but with less emphasis", used before a vowel or a mute h.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1160 – indefinite article.^[6]
• c. 1175 – in the more definite sense “one, a certain, the same”.^[6]
• 1340 – still used before a consonant in the southern dialect.^[5]
• 1400s – still used before w and y (an woman).^[5]
• 1600s – still used before a stressed h (an hundred).^[5]

Meanings

Article

1. The form of a used before a vowel sound: an owl, an heir.^[15][3][2]
2. The same before a word with h and an unstressed first syllable: an historical.^[7][2][15]
3. For each; per: The nurses earn forty dollars an hour.^[2][9]
4. One, or any one of a kind.^[9][12]

Word family

• another

an² and; if

Etymology tree of an²

inherited borrowed derived

English and

English an

Etymology

The word for the conjunction meaning "and; if" is inherited from Middle English an,^[2][3] a variant from English of and with the final d lost.^{[6][12][7][16][11]} Old English had an occasional on, shortened from ond, but the OED takes an isolated an for that word in the Leiden Glossary as probably a scribal slip.^[6] The sense "if" is the conditional use of and itself.^{[6][7][10][17]}

Earliest recorded meaning

"And", as a coordinating conjunction: before 1160, in the Peterborough continuation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[6] Hoad and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also date it to the 12th century,^[7][2] and Dictionary.com to 1125–75.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The pronunciation without d was probably current at every period, but the written form an for "and" is very rare in print except to show regional or nonstandard speech, usually as an’.^[6] The conditional sense "if" dates to about 1400 in the OED,^[6] to the late 12th century in Etymonline,^[8] and to the mid 16th century in the Shorter Oxford.^[12] In early modern drama it appears especially before it, as in an't please you.^[6][8] The First Folio of Shakespeare generally has and for "if", and it was later editors who often changed it to an, making a conventional distinction between the two forms.^[6] Wright records "if" as still in use across Scotland and northern England and in parts of the Midlands and the South.^[18]

Timeline

• before 1160 – and.^[6]
• c. 1400 – if, in Piers Plowman.^[6] Etymonline dates this sense to the late 12th century.^[8]
• c. 1697 – noun, chiefly in ifs and ans.^[6]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. (regional) and, usually written an’: bread an’ cheese.^{[6][12][2][3]}
2. (archaic) if: an't please you.^{[6][12][2][15]}

Noun

1. (chiefly plural) The conjunction used as a noun, in the phrase ifs and ans.^[6][12]

Word family

• ifs and ans