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From: ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: a newt and an adder
Message-ID: <348@spar.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Jun-85 05:43:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: spar.348
Posted: Fri Jun 21 05:43:58 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Jun-85 06:50:35 EDT
References: <14800002@ism70.UUCP> <394@bu-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis)
Organization: Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, CA
Lines: 22

>If only I could remember all that literary and linguistic terminology that I
>learned in high school English!  You see, the switch "an other" <=>
>"a nother" is a common and well known one, and there is a standard term for
>the process. --- Prentiss Riddle

  Several cases where -n from the indefinite article was transferred
  to become n- of the following noun:

  an adder   <= a nadder     < AS aedre `snake'
  an apron   <= a napron     < OF napperon < napa  < Lat mappa? `napkin'
  an umpire  <= a numpire    < OF nonper < Lat non+par `not a peer'
  an auger   <= a na[u=v]ger < AS nafo-gar `nave drill/spear'
  a nickname <= an ekename   < AS eacian `increase,eke' <IE> Lat `augere'
  a newt     <= an e[u=v=f]t < AS efeta

  An instance where the ancient dative inflexional -n  was transferred from
  the definite article to the beginning of the following word is `nonce', in
  the expression:

      	       for the nonce <=  for then ones,once

-michael