Etymologically
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na

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Pronunciation

Forms

nā[1] Variant nō, the usual form in Beowulf.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nai (“never”), a contraction of ne (“not”) and ā (“ever”).[1][3][4] The vowel of the negative was lost before the following vowel.[5] The same contraction is Old Frisian nā and Old Norse nei (“no”), which de Vries traces to a compound of the negative and the word for “ever”.[3][6] The same parts make up Old Saxon neo and Old High German nio “never”.[3][4] The second part is Proto-Germanic *aiwi- (“ever”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), of unwise men who take on the craft of teaching ðe hi na ne geleornodon “which they never learned”.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The adverb negates a verb, with or without another negative beside it, and in verse it can mean “never”.[10][1] It forms phrases such as nā þȳ lǣs “nevertheless”, nā þæt ān “not only” and nā … nā “neither … nor”.[11][12] In Beowulf the usual form is nō, an emphatic “not at all, never”, and nā is found three times.[2]

Old English nā gave English no in the south, while English nay is the Scandinavian cognate.[13][14][15]

Timeline

  • 890×897 – na ne geleornodon “never learned” in the Pastoral Care.[8][9]
  • s. ix/x – abbod, na biscop “an abbot, not a bishop” in the Parker Chronicle.[16][9]
  • s. x/xi – nō “not at all, never” in Beowulf.[2][17]
  • a1121 – Middle English nō “not” in the Peterborough Chronicle.[15]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. not, not at all, by no means.[10][4][1]
  2. no.[1][4]
  3. (poetic) never.[1][2]

Conjunction

  1. nā … nā neither … nor.[12]

Word family

  • nāwiht
  • nāhwǣr

Descendants

  • Middle English no (→ English no)[15]
  • ā
  • ne
  • nǣfre

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. nō
  3. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 299
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nā
  5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.152
  6. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 407
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
  9. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 705
  11. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 144
  12. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 244
  13. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 196
  14. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 191
  15. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
  17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344