Understanding なんて/何と言う as in なんて美しい人だ


My understanding is that there are two meanings of なんて: one as a contraction
of 等 + とて, and **the other is as a contraction of 何と言う**. I'm trying to
understand this latter sort of usage.

Here's an example usage I found online:

> **なんて** 美しい美女だな。

which idiomatically translates to

> What a beautiful woman.

But what, literally speaking, does なんて mean here? Is here なんて (= 何と言う) being
used as something like an exclamatory phrase ("what!")?

> **[One] says "what"**, [she] is an is-beautiful woman.

Is this correct? And is this a reasonable morphing from the sentence's literal
meaning to its more idiomatic translation?

> **[One] says "what"**, [she] is an is-beautiful woman. (literal translation)
>
> **" What!"** an is-beautiful woman. (more idiomatic)
>
> **What** an is-beautiful woman. (even more idiomatic)
>
> **What** a beautiful woman! (fully idiomatic)

**EDIT::** A related question/different way of looking at this is: what is the
difference between using なんて and 何 here?

> **なんて** 美しい美女だな
>
> **なに** 美しい美女だな

Is the sentence with なんて just adding a bit of hearsay to the sentence (e.g.
"They say she's a beautiful lady..")? Or is it also more emphasis ("What!" a
beautiful lady)? Are these two sentences otherwise the same?




First, 美しい美女 looks ovbiously tautological, and な is normally not used with
this exclamatory construction (presumaly because this construction is
essentially a rhetorical question; see below). So let's use なんて美しい女性だ as an
example.

It's true that なんて is etymologically なんという. You can safely use なんという in this
construction, too:

  * なんて美しい女性だ。  
なんという美しい女性だ。  
What a beautiful woman!

To further break down, なんという can be understood as an **(interrogative)
relative clause** that modifies 美しい女性. Compare the following:

  * (彼女は)アンという女性だ。  
She is a woman who one calls Ann.  
→ She is a woman called Ann.

  * (彼女は)何という女性だ？ (as a question)  
(She is a woman who one calls _WHAT_?)  
→ How is the woman called? / What's the name of the woman?

  * 何という女性だ！ (as an exclamatory sentence)  
なんて女性だ！  
(She is a woman who one describes as _WHAT_?)  
→ She is a woman where one does not know how to describe!  
→ What a woman!

  * 何という美しい女性だ！  
なんて美しい女性だ！  
She is a beautiful woman where one does not know how to describe!  
→ What a beautiful woman!

なに美しい女性だ is simply ungrammatical.




First, 美しい美女 looks ovbiously tautological, and な is normally not used with
this exclamatory construction (presumaly because this construction is
essentially a rhetorical question; see below). So let's use なんて美しい女性だ as an
example.

It's true that なんて is etymologically なんという. You can safely use なんという in this
construction, too:

  * なんて美しい女性だ。  
なんという美しい女性だ。  
What a beautiful woman!

To further break down, なんという can be understood as an **(interrogative)
relative clause** that modifies 美しい女性. Compare the following:

  * (彼女は)アンという女性だ。  
She is a woman who one calls Ann.  
→ She is a woman called Ann.

  * (彼女は)何という女性だ？ (as a question)  
(She is a woman who one calls _WHAT_?)  
→ How is the woman called? / What's the name of the woman?

  * 何という女性だ！ (as an exclamatory sentence)  
なんて女性だ！  
(She is a woman who one describes as _WHAT_?)  
→ She is a woman where one does not know how to describe!  
→ What a woman!

  * 何という美しい女性だ！  
なんて美しい女性だ！  
She is a beautiful woman where one does not know how to describe!  
→ What a beautiful woman!

なに美しい女性だ is simply ungrammatical.

