Thread: にて
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Nagoyankee (Offline)
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Tokyo, Japan
12-06-2008, 04:00 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by chryuop View Post
灯台にて。
I found this as a chapter title in a book and after going crazy for many long minutes and going through 4 dictionaries I managed to find that it is the original form of the particle で.

Is this form still commonly used today and if yes, it does apply to all the uses of で, such as にてある (for である)?
にて is the location marker very often used in writing and formal speaking. It's not a dead word at all. In fact, you will sound so terribly childish if you replaced にて by で. で is much more informal.

「灯台にて」is a good example. It cannot be 「灯台で」 at all as a chapter title. It sounds too light as one, probably except for in children's stories. But when you say to your friend, "Let's meet at the lighthouse.", you would have to use 「灯台で」. If you said 「灯台にて会いましょう」 to me, I'd say to you, "What are ya, a Shakespeare actor?"

I wish you hadn't brought up である here, though, because the で in である is not a location marker. And we don't say にてある, either. I sense a pretty big confusion in you between the two location markers, に and で. I won't do a full explanation because I've already done so a couple of times on JF. I suggest that you re-study に and で though I'm in no position to say it. I say this because in meaning:

にて = で
にて ≠ に
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