nu

Forms

nū adverb and conjunction; also written ⟨nuu⟩.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu (“now”).^[1] The adverb is common to the Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌽𐌿 (nu), Old Norse nú, Old Frisian nū, Old Saxon nū and Old High German nū.^[2][3][4] It continues an Indo-European adverb Proto-Indo-European *nu, seen in Hittite nu (“now, and”), Sanskrit नु (nú, “now, just”), Avestan nū (“now”) and Ancient Greek νῦν (nûn, “now”).^[2][3] Holthausen adds Latin nunc, which he derives from num with a particle.^[5]

Kroonen explains the long vowel of the Germanic forms as a lengthening in the separate languages, because the word was so often stressed.^[2] He also relates it to Proto-Germanic *neujaz (“new”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word opens the Northumbrian text of Cædmon's Hymn in the Moore Bede, written in or soon after 737: Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard "Now we must praise the guardian of the heavenly kingdom".^[6][7] The mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter has & nu cyningas ongeotað for Latin “Et nunc reges intellegite”, "and now, kings, understand".^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The adverb means "now, at the present time", and also "immediately" or "just now, a moment ago".^[9][10] It glosses Latin “nunc”, “modo” and “iam”.^[4] It often introduces a command or an argument, and in the laws it carries the text on to its next point ("so, accordingly"); nū and nū lā are also used as an interjection, "behold!".^[11][12] With the indicative it is a conjunction, "now that, since", which Beowulf uses beside the adverb, sometimes in a correlative pair.^[13][12]

The word lived on as Middle English nou, now English now.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. or after 737 – Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard in Cædmon's Hymn in the Moore Bede.^[6][7]
• s. ix med. – & nu cyningas ongeotað in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][7]
• 890×897 – King Alfred's preface to the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20) contrasts the learning once sought from abroad with how we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan “we would now have to get it from abroad”.^[16][9]
• s. x/xi – the conjunction “now that, since” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. now, at the present time.^[9][13]
2. immediately, at once; just now, a moment ago.^[10]
3. introducing the next point of a text: so, accordingly.^[11]
4. as an interjection, also nū lā: behold!^[12]

Conjunction

1. now that, since, because.^[13][12][4]

Word family

• nūna

Descendants

• Middle English nou (→ English now; English noo; Scots nou)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 392
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 289
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nū
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 239
6. ^ 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. 60
7. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
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. 329
9. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 727
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 655
11. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 158
12. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 148
13. ^ 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. nū
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 499
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