hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2025-06-29

■ #5907. 支柱語 one の用法を OED で確認する [oed][prop_word][pronoun][noun][countability]

　昨日の記事「#5906. 支柱語 (prop word) の「支柱」とは？」 ([2025-06-28-1]) では，My family is a large one. の one の用法に触れた．今回は，支柱語 one の起源について，OED の記述を確認したい．
　OED の one (ADJECTIVE, NOUN, & PRONOUN) より PRONOUN V のセクションが，支柱語の用法に相当する．同セクション内で下位区分された項目のうち，とりわけ典型的な支柱語としての用法に関係する V. 13 に掲げられている最初例をいくつか挙げておこう．

V. As substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
   V. 13. Following a determiner such as the, this, that, yon, any, each, every, many (a), other, such (a), what (a), what kind of (a), which, or (in certain phrases) following a, or (from Middle English onwards) following an ordinary adjective (occasionally also a noun used attributively) preceded by any of these or (in plural) alone.
      V.13.a. A thing or person (or, in plural, things or persons) of the kind in question (as indicated by the context).
      Down to the late Middle English period one was probably felt as an emphatic pronoun, intensifying the determiner with which it was coupled. In modern English it is generally an empty pro-form (sometimes referred to as a 'prop-word'), and the addition of one or ones often serves to specify number: cf. 'Which do you choose?' with 'Which one do you choose?' 'Which ones do you choose?'; 'the good one', 'the good ones' correspond to French le bon, les bons. As this use began before pronunciation with initial /w/ became standard (cf. the ε form), the γ form 'un (without initial /w/ ) often occurs in regional or colloquial speech.

         OE Æt æghwylcum anum þara hongaþ leohtfæt. (Blickling Homilies 127)
         a1250 (?a1200) Blescið ou mid euerichon of ðeos gretunges. (Ancrene Riwle (Nero MS.) (1952) 18 [Composed ?a1200]
         a1325 (c1250) Ilk kinnes erf and wrim and der..And euerilc-on in kinde good. (Genesis & Exodus (1968) l. 185 [Composed a1250]
         c1395 I haue the mooste stedefast wyf, And eek the mekeste oon that bereth lyf. (G. Chaucer, Merchant's Tale 1552)
         1463 To William Sennowe, oon of my short gownys, a good oon wiche as is convenient for hym. (in S. Tymms, Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 41 (Middle English Dictionary))
         . . . .
         . . . .
         . . . .

　形容詞に後続する one の例は，遅くとも後期中英語期には現われていたことが分かる．引き続き，調査していきたい．

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