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From: "Juan Marchini" <marchini@cs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Re: [q] why "won't"
Message-ID: <1994Oct13.083736.19208@news.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University
References: <37102f$evp@hpcan240.mentorg.com> <bpcCxDC11.J3F@netcom.com> <377ft7$k8j@tardis.trl.OZ.AU> <94284.1933353SAW11@qucdn.queensu.ca>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 08:37:27 -0500
Lines: 23

In article <94284.1933353SAW11@qucdn.queensu.ca>,
 <3SAW11@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> wrote:
>The explanation that I read somewhere for "won't" as the contraction for "will
>not", is that the verb in Anglo Saxon had 2 vowels, somewhat like the case for
>the German verb "wollen", which has "ich will, du willst, er will" = "I will,
>you will, he will" in the singular, but "wir wollen, ihr wollt, sie wollen" =
>"we will, you will, they will" in the plural.

Your phonetic arguments may be useful and it may even be that English
"will" is closely related to German "wollen" but nowadays, just so you
know, "wollen" in German translates to English "to want", not English
"will", thus "ich will" is "I want", not "I will".  it's confusing, i know,
but true, nonetheless.

Juan

Qaddafi supercomputer Rule Psix nuclear cracking security Ft. Meade [Hello
to all my fans in domestic surveillance] kibo jihad BATF Ft. Bragg Waco,
Texas Noriega radar
-- 
    M		marchini@cs.indiana.edu		IU Computer Science
  R
J
