From: no_email@invalid.invalid   
      
   Ruud Harmsen  wrote:   
   > 15 Jul 2024 19:46:05 GMT: ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram)   
   > scribeva:   
   >   
   >> ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:   
   >>> understand the expression "Vielen Dank!" we can't analyze   
   >>> it further. It's opaque to us.   
   >>   
   >> The "vielen" feels as if the formally singular "Dank" is taken   
   >> "semantically" to be a plural.   
   >   
   > Why? It's a singular masculin accusative!   
      
   Be that as it may, that's precisely how I've felt about it for a long time,   
   and the mismatch is what prompted me to ask for clarification.   
      
   And to read it as a count noun, I'd need 'viel' rather than 'vielen'. Cf   
   'viel Glück', not 'vieles'.   
      
   So I rather thought it was a fossil form, possibly misanalyzed to the   
   mondegreen point, maybe even missing a syllable at the end, or /dank/ not   
   even being originally the noun form.   
      
   That some confusion does exist around it seems to be supported by Stefan's   
   quotations.   
      
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