*naiwwiht

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *naiwwiht "nothing".^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Proto-West Germanic *naiw + *wiht, its second part from Proto-Germanic *wihtą.^[1] The daughters' dictionaries analyse their forms in the same way: Köbler refers Old English nāwiht to the negation with ā "ever" and wiht, and Old Saxon neowiht to ne, eo and wiht.^[2][3] EWA explains Old High German niwiht as a univerbation of the negative particle ni, the indefinite pronoun io "any" and the pronoun wiht "something; thing, creature", with the original sense "not any thing", strengthening the negation; it compares Gothic 𐌽𐌹 (ni) 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄 (waiht).^[4]

Morphology

An indefinite pronoun, also used as an adverb "not" and as a neuter noun.^[4][3]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English nāwiht, Old Frisian nāwet, Old Saxon neowiht, Old Dutch niewiht and Old High German niowiht.^[4] Hofmann and Popkema explain the Old Frisian word as a compound of ne and āwet.^[5] Old Saxon has it in the Heliand,^[3] Old Dutch in the Psalms, which EWA dates to 901–1000 and Köbler to the 9th century,^[4][6] and Köbler counts more than 960 Old High German records.^[7]

Meanings

1. nothing^[1]

Old English also used the noun for "wickedness, evil deed",^[2] and Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old Dutch used the word as an adverb "not".^[5][3][6] Middle High German niht became the ordinary negation "not" of German.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: nāwiht (“nothing, wickedness”)^[2]
• Old Frisian: nāwet (“nothing; not”)^[5]
• Old Saxon: neowiht (“nothing, not”)^[3]
• Old Dutch: niewiht (“nothing, worthless, not”)^[6]
• Old High German: niowiht (“nothing, not, never”)^[7][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *naiwwiht
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nāwiht
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. neowiht
4. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. niwiht
5. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. nāwet
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. niewiht
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. niowiht