dylan37What you refer to as “small” words are what bilingual dictionary-makers sometimes, paradoxically, refer to as “long words”, because they produce the longest, most complex and difficult-to-write dictionary entries. mjbackSuch small words are not just small, they are also all grammatical words (unlike other small words such as “fly” or “net”, for instance). elskuligrThe indefinite articles “a” and “an” evolved from an Old English numeral (pronounced “aahn”) for “one, lone, single” via grammaticalisation. “You” comes from the accusative form of the plural Old English pronoun “eow”. How those small words and other similar ones survived through him in those days always delighted and surprised me!

Source: The Guardian March 21, 2021 14:02 UTC