| 释义 |
▪ I. † an, a.1
Earlier form of the numeral one; retained in the north. The OE. án began c 1150, to be reduced bef. a cons. to a; in the south, ān, ā were, bef. 1300, regularly rounded to ōn (oon, one), ō (oo) in the full original sense of the numeral; but when the sense was weakened to that of the ‘indef. article’ (see next) they continued to be written an, a (ăn, ă). In the north, the spelling an, a, was retained in both senses, the stress alone (as in Ger. ein, Fr. un) distinguishing the numeral from the article; and an was at length commonly written ane, which spelling, though proper to the numeral (ane = ān, with e mute indicating long vowel), was, especially by Sc. writers, used for the article also. See ane, a adj.2, and, for the senses, one; the following instances illustrate the form only.
1. OE. and early ME.: in all dialects.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xii. 29 Drihten God user God an is. c1000Ags. G. Matt. x. 29 An of ðám. 1131O.E. Chron., Næ be læf þær noht an. c1220Hali Meid. 23 Bi hu muchel þe an passed þe oþre. Ibid. 25 Nimeð an after an. c1230Ancr. R. (MS. C.) Pref. 23 Of anes cunnes fuheles. 1297R. Glouc. 223 Anne stroc he ȝef hym.
2. Late ME. and modern: northern. (Thet an—thet other were here written the tan—the tother.)
a1300Cursor M. 19339 All als an þai gaf ansuer. Ibid. 20860 Þe tan was blisced and te toþer. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4085 An sal come þat sal hald þe empire. Ibid. 259 Ane of þer four. c1400Destr. Troy ix. 4062 Archisalus was an..And Protheno..þat other. c1430Syr Gener. 1337 Not an word ageyn he yaf. c1620A. Hume Brit. Tong. 7 Distinguished the ane from the other.
▪ II. an, a.2, indef. article
(toneless ən; emph. æn)
The older and fuller form of a, now retained only before a vowel sound, as an orator, an honour, an x, an ‘M.P.’; also by most writers before h, and by some even before eu, ū (= yū), in unaccented syllables, as an hyæna, an euphonic change, though many writers, and most speakers, now use a in such positions. An originated as a lighter or stressless pronunciation of the numeral án ‘one’; see above: already by 1150, in midl. dial. it was reduced before a cons. to a; but in the south, the fuller an, even retaining part of its earlier inflected cases, is found as late as 1340. An was often retained before w and y in 15th c., as an wood, an woman, an yere, such an one, and was regular before h down to 17th c., as an house, an happy, an hundred, an head (1665). Its history thus shows a gradual suppression of the n before consonants of all kinds, and in all positions. For illustrations, and signification, see a adj.2
▪ III. an, v.1
var. han, obs. or dial.
f. haven, inf. of have.
1448Marg. Paston in Lett. I. 69 He myth an had mony to an holpyn hym self wyth.
▪ IV. † an, v.2 Obs.
1 & 3 sing. pres. of unn-en, to grant.
a1250Owl & Night. 1737 Ich an wel, cwað the niȝtegale.
▪ V. an, adv.
‘only,’ obs. form of one.
▪ VI. an, an', conj.|ən, (ə)n|
[weakened from and.]
1. = and B. (L. et.) In this sense the weak form an appears soon after 1100, and is not uncommon in ME., esp. northern, but very rare after 1500, till it reappears in modern times in the representation of dialect speech, in which it is printed an' with the apostrophe, recognizing the dropped letter. But and is almost always so pronounced in conversation, and even in reading, though this is conventionally considered a fault.
1154O.E. Chron. (Laud. MS.) an. 1135 Mone an sterres abuten him at middæi. c1250Gen. & Ex. 647 Of Noe siðen an is ðre sunen. c1400Apol. for Loll. 15 Charitable pacience of þe martir, an vnriȝtwisnes of þe persewar. c1400Destr. Troy vi. 2328 Be sent from your seluon..An aioynet to þis Jorney. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. ii. 140 An whi not thanne? 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Justine 39 Up an down in euery corner. 1859Tennyson North. Farmer 2 Doctor's abean an' agoan.
2. = and, C. = if. (L. si.) arch. and dial. In this sense an, an', is rare bef. 1600, when it appears occasionally in the dramatists, esp. before it, as an' 't please you, an' 't were, etc. As the prec. sense was not at this time written an, modern writers have made a conventional distinction between the two forms, an' for ‘and,’ L. et, being dialectal or illiterate, but an' or an for ‘and,’ L. si, archaic, or even literary. Except in an' 't, an is found only once in the 1st Folio of Shakespeare (see below); but modern editors substitute it for the full and usual in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Dialectally the two senses are alike an'; the intensified and if, an if, common in 17th c., remains in the s.w. dial. as nif.
[a1300Havelok 2861 And thou will my conseil tro. c1386Chaucer Doctor's T. 86 Now kepe hem wel, for and [v.r. if] ye wil ye can. ]1542Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 246 An nede shall compell a man to slepe. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 584 There, an't shall please you. Ibid. v. ii. 232 Nay then two treyes, an if you grow so nice. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 74 An't please your highness. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ii. ii. (1840) 154 If an she be a rebel. 1775Sheridan Rivals iii. iv, An' we've any luck. 1817Coleridge Sib. Leaves (1862) 273 But an if this will not do. 1821Combe (Dr. Syntax) Search of Wife i, An' please your Reverence, here we are. 1859Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 251 But an it please thee not.
▪ VII. † an, prep. Obs.
[cogn. w. Goth. and OHG. ana (MHG. ane, mod.G. an), OS., OFris. an, ON. á; Gr. ἀνά.]
The orig. form of the prep. which, in prehistoric Eng., in accordance with the regular phonetic history of short a before nasals, was rounded to on, a form, unlike the parallel ond, hond, lomb, monn, ever after retained. In Anglo-Saxon, but not in Anglian, on also absorbed the prep. in. As to its history in combination, see an- prefix 1 below. After 11th c. when on- in comb. was generally reduced to ă- bef. cons., ăn- bef. vowel, the same befell on prep. to some extent, esp. in familiar phrases, as an edge, an end, an erthe, an even (at eve), an high, an hand, an horseback: see a prep.1 But in course of time all these were altered back to on, or changed to in; an being retained only in those in which its prepositional character was no longer apparent, as to go an (now a) hawking, twice an hour. The following quotations illustrate the forms; for the various uses, see a prep.1 See also an-aunter, an-end, an-erth.
984O.E. Chron., An þara tweᵹra apostola dæᵹe. c1175Cotton Hom. 219 Me scel sigge an oðre stowe. Ibid., He..cweð an his hérto. c1250Moral Ode 270 in E.E.P. (1862) 30 An helle for-don. 1297R. Glouc. 537 Vpe the tour an hei. c1300Beket 2093 Seint Thomas nom a croice anhonde. Ibid. 1236 Lettres..that thus an Englisch were. c1320Cast. Loue 1177 Þe felynge he schal leosen an ende. 1340Ayenb. 168 Þis berþ away þane ssepe aneuen. 1377Langl. P.Pl. B. xx. 143 And armyd hym an [v.r. in] haste. c1380Sir Ferumb. 863 And said til hym an haste. Ibid. 3552 To þe ryuer an haukyng fare. c1440Lonelich Graal II. 221 And an horsbak setten hym. 1557N. T. (Genev.) John iii. 31 He that commeth from an hye, is aboue all. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 270 They make the teeth an edge. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 19 Each particular haire to stand an end, Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iii. 7 Set my pugging tooth an edge. 1741Richardson Pamela 64 Your hair will stand an end. |