On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 6:17 AM, kate rhodes <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Apparently it was originally the same word as "then" which seems far > less strange to me. I find that interesting. Any idea how they may have split like that? It's not something regular sound change is capable of. > At its core it's a simple tool for comparing or contrasting two things > that, I suspect, has acquired some complex in its usage over time. I > was wondering if a word for contrasting or comparing two concepts is a > fairly common thing in natural languages, and what alternate means are > used to address this need. I'm also curious as to how you've addressed > it in your conlangs. Ilion generally uses the oblique case for this. Since VPs can be nominalized, it's used for subordinate clauses as well as nominal comparisons.