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Q&A How did 'less than' semantically shift to mean 'if not'?

Disclaimer: I'm not a linguist and this answer is pure speculation. I think the semantics are in fact the same. If we look at the concept of existence, as humans typically evaluate things, in tha...

posted 3y ago by __shiva_c‭

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#1: Initial revision by user avatar __shiva_c‭ · 2021-03-03T00:37:07Z (about 3 years ago)
Disclaimer: I'm not a linguist and this answer is pure speculation.

I think the semantics are in fact the same.

If we look at the concept of existence, as humans typically evaluate things, in that non-existence is conceived to be less than existence it seems that we can readily derive that _less than_ amounts to a rephrase of _if not_.