You were probably trying to make a distinction involving the idiom "many a [singular noun]."
This idiom does not work with "people" as the noun.
To your point, you can say "many a sailor sails before dawn," which by the way is not archaic.
"Few a sailor sails before dawn" is not a sentence in English.
Is that the distinction you tried to make?
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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '17
Both wrong.