Resumen de Origine dell’it. anche e dei suoi correlati romanzi
The origin of it. anche ‘also, too’ and of its Romance cognates is commonly traced back to Protoromance *anque, a reconstructed form, which is interpreted as a derivative of the dubitative Latin particle an. This explanation turns out to be untenable, because it does not account for the primitive meanings of anche and its Romance cognates, that is ‘still’ and ‘never’, as is evident from the oldest records of the Romance languages. Therefore, Nicholson’s hypothesis of a derivation from Latin antequam is reconsidered through the meanings of ‘before this time’, ‘up to this time’, which later evolved to ‘still, yet’ and ‘never’ in a negative context. The mechanism whereby a conjunction may become an adverb through the ellipsis of the verb is shown by quoting parallel examples in Italian.
