anne

Forms

anne (conjunction, not inflected)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin an (“or, whether”) + -ne (“interrogative particle”).^[1][3] De Vaan traces an to Proto-Italic *an and, with a question mark, to Proto-Indo-European *h₂en (“there, on the other side”); he compares Lithuanian angu (“or”) and Old Prussian anga-anga (“whether”), and finds the link with Ancient Greek ἄν (án) uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in indirect questions: a slave says that his master will not stop to think whether an order is fair or unfair.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a fuller form of an, with the same use.^[2][3] In direct questions Cicero asks someone for what reason he acted, and in alternatives it introduces the second option: Cicero wonders whether to speak of a consulship won or one carried out, and whether to name Gabinius, Pompey or both.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in indirect questions.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in direct and alternative questions.^[2][5]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. In a question with alternatives, or.^[2][1]
2. In direct or indirect questions, whether.^[2][1]

Related words

• an

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de