What is the function of `と` in
[とある](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%A8%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss)?

It doesn't seem to be the particle `と`\--it doesn't seem to attach to whatever
comes before it, which particles generally do. It also doesn't seem to fit any
of the uses of the particle `と` described my in books. So, I guess it must be
something other than a particle.

So far, I've found [this answer on
知恵袋](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1180590256). It
suggests that `と` is [this 副詞 meaning 「そのように」
](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%A8&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=1&index=113712700000&pagenum=11),
the same `と` in `とにかく`. And, as @Chocolate points out in a comment,
[学研全訳古語辞典](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B) agrees
that the `と` in `とある` is a 副詞.

However, [in another
comment](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/9847/what-is-the-
function-of-%E3%81%A8-in-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B#comment20873_9847),
Chocolate points out that 広辞苑 says `と` _is_ a particle. I'm not sure how to
reconcile this with the other information I've found so far. (I don't have 広辞苑
myself, so I can't verify the quote.) As I said before, it doesn't seem to
behave like a particle to me, because it doesn't attach to what comes before
it. Is 広辞苑 wrong?

What is this `と` exactly?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-25T21:14:37.900
9847
2019-03-13T19:10:04.013
2017-04-13T12:43:43.857
-1
question
etymology
What is the function of と in とある?
In "とある宝飾店" (a jewelry store), とある is one word, and not と + ある. As a single
word it means "a" or "some". It signifies that the speaker doesn't want to
specify which jewelry stor eit is.

Note that there is also a sentence where とある is two words と (particle) + ある
(verb: exist), such as "メニューには売り切れとある" (menu says [it is] sold out.)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-09T08:30:34.520
9942
2013-01-09T08:30:34.520
3059
9847
answer
I remember hearing that the origin is due to the use of っていう or と used as in
quoting/explaining, so when you were talking about a place or a thing but had
many possibilities, or were talking about "I heard that this store.." or "this
subject..." or "people say...", it was a circumlocution which over time ended
up contracting and becoming the form we know as the current とある as because
while とある is best thought of as one word, I've always heard it as "a
certain..." or "some" (not in the plural, but like... one out of many
possibilities of jewelry stores, or some other noun, like in the manga / light
novel/anime series 「とある魔術の禁書目録」). But that's what my professor told me, and it
may have just been a way to remember this use of とある as I can't find sources
confirming this origin either. And of course there are other ways to denote
"people say about..." etc in Japanese too.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-13T19:10:04.013
65991
2019-03-13T19:10:04.013
33213
9847
answer