negation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English negacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French negation (“act of denial”), recorded in Old French in 1174 as negatiun,^[4] or directly borrowed from Latin negātiō (“denial, refusal”).^[4][2][5][6] The Latin noun is formed from negātus, the past participle of negō (“to say no, deny”),^[2][5][7][8] from neg- (“no, not”),^[5][8] from Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”).^[2] Skeat compared Lithuanian negi (“also not”).^[8] Latin already used the noun in logic in the 6th century, and in British sources from the late 10th century for the absence of a quality.^[4] Compare Italian negazione, in Dante, and Spanish negación, recorded in 1490.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of denial: probably before 1425, in the translation of Catherine of Siena called the Orcherd of Syon,^[4][3] where Peter's denial is called þe trespas of negacioun, or diniynge.^[3] Etymonline likewise has the early 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From an act of denial the word moved to the wording of it: a negative assertion from the middle of the 15th century,^[2] and about 1450 a statement made with a negative word such as no or not, in a Middle English grammatical text.^[4][6] Logic took it up in 1570, in Billingsley's translation of Euclid, for asserting that a proposition is false.^[4] Philosophical use broadened it in the 17th century: from 1620 it meant the absence or opposite of something positive,^[4][6] and since 1707 a thing whose essence is a lack, a nonentity, now rare.^[4][6] Johnson (1755) gives "denial; the contrary to affirmation" and description by negative.^[9] Computing added the logical operation that turns true to false and false to true, first recorded in 1949.^[4][6] Hoad's date for the word is the 16th century,^[10] later than the OED's.^[4]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – an act of denial; a refusal or contradiction.^[4][3]
• c. 1450 – a statement using a negative word such as not.^[4]
• 1570 – in logic, assertion that a proposition is false.^[4]
• 1620 – the absence or opposite of something positive.^[4]
• 1707 – in philosophy, something that consists in a lack; a nonentity.^[4]
• 1949 – in computing, an operation that reverses a truth value.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of denying or contradicting; a denial.^[5][11][4]
2. The absence or opposite of something positive, often the negation of: The verdict was the negation of everything the report had argued.^[11][4][6]
3. A negative statement, doctrine or judgment.^[5][4]
4. (grammar) The use of a negative word such as no, not or never; a word or particle used for this.^[4][6][5]
5. (logic) A statement that is true when the original statement is false, or the operator that forms it, corresponding to not.^[11][5][4]
6. (computing) A logical operation that changes true to false and false to true.^[4][6]
7. A thing that consists in the absence of something; a nonentity.^[4][6][11]

Word family

• negational
• negationist

Related words

• negate
• negative
• negativism
• deny
• renegade
• abnegate
• no

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins