# History of English: etymology of the word "any" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702 "2001-02-08T22:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/1 "2001-02-08T22:46:28Z")
Who can discourse on the history of the word “any”? It’s obvious enough that it’s closely related to “a” and “an”, but how did its peculiar rules of usage come about? Or looking at it the other way, how did its peculiar usage result in its modern form? Why is it that you can only use the word ‘any’ in contexts of negation or interrogation, but not declaratively? That is, if someone asks you if you caught any fish, you can’s say, “Yes, I did catch any fish”, but you can say, “No, I didn’t catch any fish.” I know there’s some linguists out there, so please step up. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/2 "2001-02-08T22:55:25Z")
I don’t have a cite handy, but I think people do use “any” in a declarative sense in some regions of the country (US). Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/3 "2001-02-08T22:55:30Z")
This is the OED’s etymology of “any” although some of the characters won’t display right. > [@](#): > > [OE. ni, cogn. w. OS. ênig, OFris. ênich, ienig, OHG. einîc, > mod.G. einig. Du. eenig, f. án one (in umlaut n) + -i, -ig, adj. > ending (see -Y1), here perhaps diminutive; cf. L. ullus = unulus. > Of the ME. forms, eny, ei, seem to have been southern, any > midl., ony midl. and northern. The living word in mod.Eng. is > eny. Fem. and pl. forms in -e existed in ME.; the word is now > invariable, even pronominally.] > > Primarily adj., but also from the earliest period used absol. or > pronominally both in sing. and pl. I will leave the linguists to interpet this more It’s first definition is > [@](#): > > 1. gen. An indeterminate derivative of one, or rather of its > weakened adj. form a, an, in which the idea of unity (or, in > plural, partitivity) is subordinated to that of indifference as to > the particular one or ones that may be selected. In sing. = A > no matter which; a \_\_\_ whichever, of whatever kind, of whatever > quantity. In pl. = Some\_\_\_\_ no matter which, of what kind, or > how many. a. Its primary use is in interrogative, hypothetical, > and conditional forms of speech, as ‘Has any Englishman seen > it?’ i.e. an Englishman \_\_\_\_\_ I care not which; ‘if it do any harm,’ > i.e. harm, no matter of what kind. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/4 "2001-02-09T02:17:02Z")
> [@](#): > > **any** [OE] _any_ is descended from a prehistoric Germanic compound meaning literally ‘one-y’ (a formation duplicated in _unique_, whose Latin source _unicus_ was compounded of _unus_ ‘one’ and the adjective suffix -_icus_). Gemanic \*_ainigaz_ was formed from \*_ain_- (source of English _one_) and the stem \*-_ig_-, from which the English suffix -_y_ is ultimately derived. In Old English this had become _oenig_, which diversified in Middle English to _any_ and _eny_; modern English _any_ preserves the spelling of the former and the pronunciation of the latter. from _Dictionary of Word Origins_. Doesn’t answer your question, though. ---
**Author:** ![PublicBlast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/779978/32.png) [@PublicBlast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PublicBlast)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/5 "2001-02-09T04:56:30Z")
Okay, in vaguely plain English: the words “any” and “an” [an egg] and “one” all have the same root word. They express a few important concepts, but the most important one we’re interested in is this: “there is [at least one of]something.” So, interrogative or negative statements: A: Did you catch any fish? [Is there at least one item **of fish?**] B: No, I didn’t catch any. [**Of fish** there is not at least one.] A: How about you, C? C: Yes, I caught **one**! There’s your declaratory “any”: it turned into “one” in C’s sentence. Why? [talking out of ass mode ON] The old “any” was a genitive construction, i.e. possessive: “I didn’t catch any of fish,” lit. Both “any” and “of fish” would be inflected into the genitive case in Old English. If you said “I caught a fish!” you would put fish into the accusative [direct object] case, and “any” would no longer be grammatically appropriate. (You could say, “Of fish, I caught one,” but the word “one” would still be a direct object and thus in accusative case.) Short answer: “any” and “one” are two different grammatical forms of the same word. Therefore, when two people say–“Did you catch any fish?” “Yes, I caught one!”–both people are basically using the same word, they just don’t realize it, because they forgot all their old English grammar. [talking out of ass mode OFF] Actually, humility aside, I think I got this right. 🙂 Ask a more accomplished linguist for a second opinionm, or ask me again to rephrase this more simply. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/6 "2001-02-09T13:55:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arjuna34 \* > \*\*I don’t have a cite handy, but I think people do use “any” in a declarative sense in some regions of the country (US). > > Arjuna34 \*\* Could you be thinking of _anymore_, as in “Anymore, people just wear jeans and t-shirts when they fly”. That’s been mentioned elsewhere, [wildly speculating] but I think that those usages do contain an implicit notion of negation or cessation. The example I gave might really be interpreted as, “People used to dress up when they travelled, but anymore they just wear jeans and t-shirts when they fly.” Or, “Anymore, we don’t go to the movies much” might really be "We don’t go to movies much anymore. [/wildly speculating] If you have examples of _any_ used in a positive declarative sentence, can you give a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-english-etymology-of-the-word-any/53702/7 "2001-02-09T14:38:16Z")
“Any” is an example of what’s called a negative polarity item. It’s only used in a few specific contexts - negative statements, interrogatives, and a few others. A couple other examples of negative polarity items are “give a damn” and “give a red cent” (um, that’s a rather old-fashioned one, so I’m not sure if you’d know it). This topic has been studied in linguistics a fair amount, but the only lingistics book I have at hand that discusses it is James McCawley’s _Everything That Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know about Logic_. All I can suggest is that you dig through a few books on English grammar written from a generative grammatical viewpoint. It’s complicated to describe the behavior of “any” and it’s not completely understood.