Indefinite article with uncountable nouns

Question

I'm writing something and I'm not sure which one is correct:

1. to have a control over
2. to have control over

I googled and found many examples written by native speakers who in fact used the article with control, as shown below:

• the object... was to have a control over that person (Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of King's Bench, Volume 5) (1834)

• the people ought to have a control over their own affairs (The London and Westminster Review, Volume 25; Volume 27) (1836)

• the Constitution... is to have a control over such institutions (Social Theories of Jacksonian Democracy: Representative Writings of the Period 1825-1850) (2003)

Answer 1

In a comment, choster wrote:

These examples are unexceptional. Non-count nouns can act as count nouns in various circumstances, and take articles or other determiners: a love that had no equal, my strange history and our stranger future, an ochre sand to replace the gray concrete. See e.g. When can uncountable nouns be countable? and older duplicates like The article “a/an” with uncountable nouns or Usage of an article in front of the structure “adjective + non countable noun.”.

Answer 2

In a comment, Edwin Ashworth wrote:

Indefinite articles may be used with certain non-count noun usages in some circumstances (quite apart from countification having taken place, eg "I'll have a coffee / three coffees, please"). In 'He spoke with a great enthusiasm' the indefinite article is optional, though 'enthusiasm' cannot be considered a count usage here (*'He spoke with two / several / many [great] enthusiasms'). // This is another such example where 'a' is optional.