an·y / ˈenē/ • adj. & pron. 1. used to refer to one or some of a thing or number of things, no matter how much or many: [as adj.] I don't have any choice | [as pron.] someone asked him for a match, but Joe didn't have any. ∎  [as pron.] anyone: it ceased payments to any but the elderly.2. whichever of a specified class might be chosen: [as adj.] visible at any hour of the night [as pron.] the illness may be due to any of several causes. • adv. (used for emphasis) at all; in some degree: he wasn't any good at basketball. ∎ inf. used alone, not qualifying another word: I didn't hurt you any.PHRASES: any amount ofsee amount.any oldsee old.any time (also anytime) 1. at whatever time: she can come any time.2. without exception or doubt: I can handle a shrimp like him anytime.any time (or day or minute, etc.) now inf. very soon: we'll get them back any day now.hardly anysee hardly.

Any

Unknown, before 1539 b.c.e.–Unknown, after 1514 b.c.e.

Scribe of the Palace of Queen Ahmes-Nefertari

Wrote Teaching to Son.

Nothing is known of Any's early life. He was a commoner who had an opportunity to gain an education and became a scribe. He must have married and had at least one son who grew to adulthood, whose name was Khonshotep. Any's highest title was "Scribe of the Palace of Ahmes-Nefertari." Thus he was an official who reached the lower end of the royal bureaucracy. This office was a significant enough accomplishment to allow him to write a teaching for his son. Any's teaching combines traditional material with two innovations. Previous to Any's time, only teachings of the highest officials survive. As a minor official, Any offers advice to his son that will help him in the lower offices that he can expect to attain. There is no aristocratic pretension in Any's advice. Second, Any's son answers him at the end of the teaching. Khonshotep is skeptical about whether he can follow his father's advice. He suggests it is too difficult for him. This section of the text leads to the possibility that the teaching will fail in spite of Any's best efforts. Such a proposition was never previously discussed in Egyptian philosophical literature.

sources

Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume II: The New Kingdom (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976): 135–146.

Axel Volten, Studien zum Weisheitsbuch des Anii (Copenhagen, Denmark: Danske videnskabernes selskab, 1937–1938).

any OE. ǣniġ = OS. ēnig (Du. eenig), OHG. einag (G. einig), ON. einigr, Goth. ainah- :- Gmc. *ainiʒaʒ, -aʒaʒ, f. *ain- ONE + *-iz- -Y1; cf. L. ūnicus UNIQUE. In ME. two types were current, ani and eni; the present sp. continues the first, the pronunc. the second. anybody XIII, anyhow XVIII, anything OE., anywhere XIV.