ni

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish nin, inherited from Latin nec (“and not, nor”).^[1][2][3] Old Spanish mostly wrote ⟨nin⟩, beside ⟨ni⟩ and the rarer nen.^[4][5] Old Leonese, Asturian and Galician also had ne.^[6] In the Americas ⟨nin⟩ was still written in 1519.^[7] The same Latin word is Asturian nin, Galician nin, Portuguese nem, Catalan ni, French ni and Italian né.^[1][6]

In his article on sin, Corominas reports Menéndez Pidal's view that in the Latin word the final consonant could be lost before a vowel or vocalised in combinations such as ⟨nec tu⟩, which explains the ⟨i⟩ of the Spanish word, a form that Spanish shares with Catalan and French.^[8]

The Latin conjunction is a shortened form of neque, from Proto-Indo-European *nékʷe (“and not, nor”), a compound of *né (“not”) and *-kʷe (“and”).^[1][9] The same compound survives in Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌷 (nih).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates ni to about 1140, the Cid.^[2] There it has the form nin: „Non vos osariemos abrir nin coger por nada” “we would not dare to open to you or take you in for anything”.^[10][5] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) has ni: „En mos días ni ui atal” “in all my days I never saw the like”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's Lapidario nin joins negative words and clauses, and it can also stand for o “or” after a comparison (mas ayna que el fierro ni el cobre).^[11] The DLE still records this use as obsolete, in questions such as ¿Te hablé yo ni te vi?.^[3] The form nin was still written in Puerto Rico in 1519.^[7]

Autoridades describes, besides the joining of negatives, the emphatic use that denies a thing outright (ni una rosquilla).^[12] Emphatic phrases with ni are numerous (ni hablar, ni modo, ni idea), and Mexican speech has strings such as ni a palos and ni a balazos.^[1][13] Alemany in 1917 records ni bien “not entirely”; the DLE gives its American sense “as soon as”.^[14][3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – nin in the Cid.^[10][2]
• c. 1180 – ni in the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario uses nin for “nor” and also for “or”.^[11]
• 1513 – Nebrija explains it as i no “and not”, Latin nec, neque.^[15]
• 1519 – nin in documents from Puerto Rico.^[7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it a negative particle.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. nec”.^[17]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. nor, and not;^[1] ni… ni neither… nor, joining negative words or clauses: No bebe ni fuma.^[3][1]
2. After a verb with no, it may be left out before the first of the negated terms: No sale (ni) de día ni de noche.^[3]
3. (literary) Not, without another negative: Lo perdió todo; ni cabía esperar otra cosa.^[3]
4. ni que with the subjunctive: as if: ¡Ni que fuera millonario!^[3]
5. (Latin America) ni bien: as soon as.^[3]

Adverb

1. Not even: Eso no lo sabe ni él.^[3][1]
2. In emphatic refusals and denials: ¡Ni hablar!, ¡Ni lo pienses!^[3][1]

Related words

• no
• ninguno
• Latin nec
• Portuguese nem

Usage notes

A separate word ni is the name of the Greek letter Ν, ν, a feminine noun from Ancient Greek νῦ (nŷ); its plural is níes.^[18][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. no
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. ni
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ni
5. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 308
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4573
7. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ni
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 254
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 487
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ni
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. ni
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. ni
13. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 758
14. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1195
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 386
16. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1162
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 692
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. ni