an
“an” is a Latin word. Its 16 meanings in English:
- or, or whether (A conjunction that introduces the second part of a disjunctive interrogation, or a phrase implying doubt.)
- in disjunctive interrogations
- direct
- indirect
- or rather, or on the contrary (where the opinion of the speaker or the probability inclines to the second interrogative clause, and this is made emphatic, as a corrective of the former)
- hence, in the comic poets, as an potius
- or, or rather, or indeed, or perhaps (where, as is frequent, the first part of the interrogation is not expressed, but is to be supplied from the context, an begins the interrogation, but it does not begin an absolute – i.e., non-disjunctive – interrogation)
- or not
- in direct questions
- in indirect questions
- pleonastic usage for an
- denoting uncertainty by itself, without a verb of doubting
- standing for sīve
- where the first disjunctive clause is to be supplied from the general idea or where an stands for utrum or necne
- Since in such distributive sentences expressive of doubt, the opinion of the speaker or the probability usually inclines to the second, i.e. to the clause beginning with an, the expressions haud sciō an, nesciō an, and dubitō an incline to an affirmative signification, “I almost know”, “I am inclined to think”, “I almost think”, “I might say”, “I might assert that”, etc., for “perhaps”,…
- Sometimes the distributive clause beginning with an designates directly the opposite, the more improbable, the negative; in which case nesciō an, haud sciō an, etc., like the English I know not whether, signify “I think that not”, “I believe that not”, etc.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.