не

Forms

не (ne)^[1] With the present of бꙑти it merges into нѣсмь, нѣси, нѣстъ.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *ne (“not”), found in every Slavic language as the particle that negates a clause or part of it.^[3][4][1] The same word is Russian не (ne), Serbo-Croatian ne, Slovene ne, Czech ne and Polish nie; Russian нет (net, “no”) and some other answers “no” are contractions of *ne je.^[3][4][5]

It goes back through Proto-Balto-Slavic *ne to Proto-Indo-European *né, the basic negation of the parent language, attested on its own in Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic: Lithuanian ne (“not”), Latvian ne (“not”), Old High German ni (“not”), with Latin ne- in compounds such as nesciō (“not to know”).^{[3][4][6][5][1]} A lengthened grade is in Latin nē, and a strengthened *nei in ни and Lithuanian nei (“not even”).^[6][5][3] The reduced form *n̥-, the prefix of Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) and in-, is not found in Baltic or Slavic.^[3][5] ESJS takes the use of ne in every kind of clause as a Balto-Slavic innovation, since the oldest Indo-European languages used another negation in wishes and commands, such as Ancient Greek μή (mḗ) and Hittite lē.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

All the canonical manuscripts have the particle, which the SNSP counts more than 5,000 times, for Ancient Greek οὐ (ou) and Ancient Greek μή (mḗ).^[2][7] In Christ's prayer on the Mount of Olives: не моѣ волѣ нъ твоѣ да бѫдетъ “not my will but yours be done” (L 22, 42 Zogr Mar).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the canonical texts не stands before the verb and negates the whole clause, or a single part of it (не азъ “not I”, Mc 14, 29); a double negation makes a positive statement.^[7][3] It combines with conjunctions and particles: аще не “if not, unless”, да не “lest”, оуже не “no longer”.^[3][2] As a prefix it gives a word the opposite sense or a shifted one, and a few words occur in OCS only with it, such as недѫгъ and ненавидѣти.^[3] Schumann counts не оправьдити for ἀδικεῖν “to do wrong” in the Psalterium Sinaiticum among the calques from Greek.^[8]

Meanings

Particle

1. not: negates a verb and the whole clause; for οὐ, μή.^[7][2][1]
2. Not: negates one part of a sentence.^[7]
3. no.^[1]

Word family

• неже
• негъли

Usage notes

As the prefix не- it forms negative words, such as небогъ or ненавидѣти.^[3] ESJS treats ни, the stronger negation “nor, not even”, separately.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Slovník nejstarších staroslověnských památek (digital ed., Gorazd, Slovanský ústav AV ČR, gorazd.org); cf. Cejtlin, R. M.; Večerka, R.; Blagova, É. (eds.) (1994), Staroslavjanskij slovar' (po rukopisjam X–XI vekov), Moskva: Russkij jazyk
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU, p. 532
4. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 347
5. ^ a b c d Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 52
6. ^ a b Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 274
7. ^ a b c d Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ Schumann, Kurt (1958), Die griechischen Lehnbildungen und Lehnbedeutungen im Altbulgarischen, Veröffentlichungen der Abteilung für slavische Sprachen und Literaturen des Osteuropa-Instituts an der Freien Universität Berlin 16, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 46
9. ^ Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU, p. 545