ne

Forms

ne^[1] Old spellings are nee (about 1493) and ny (1533); dialects have né and nö.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Uralic *ne (“not”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Finno-Ugric period, and shares its origin with the negative nem.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Its cognates survive only inside negative pronouns: Mansi nēmat (“none at all”), Komi-Zyrian ńi-ne̮m (“nothing”) and Udmurt no-kiń-no (“nothing, nobody”).^[3][4][2] ÚESz gives the Finno-Ugric particle as Proto-Uralic *ni or the form above, with the longer *nimɜ or *nemɜ.^[3] The weak point of the comparison, which ÚESz, Zaicz and MSzFE all note, is that the parent language expressed negation with a negative verb, so a negative particle cannot be proved for that period.^[3][4][5]

TESz and MSzFE trace the particle and its vowel-final cognates in the end to the demonstrative Proto-Uralic *nä (“this”), which also forms indefinite pronouns such as némi and némely; on this view nem is a compound of that pronoun and *mɜ (“what”), first meaning “something”, and emphatic use in doubting questions led to the negative sense.^[2][5] ÚESz finds both derivations unlikely, for reasons of vowels and of meaning.^[3] Zaicz suggests that the negative and the prohibitive split apart in the Proto-Hungarian period.^[4]

The particle has also been compared with Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”) and Latin ne, and with an Eskimo negative.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary, of the middle of the 13th century (TESz: about 1300), where Mary asks mercy for her son: kegug gethuk fyomnok, ne leg kegulm mogomnok “have mercy on my son, let there be no mercy for me”.^[3][2][5] It is already the prohibitive particle, here in a wish.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its function, forbidding or wishing something away, from the first record on, while nem took the plain negation.^[2][3] The codices use it constantly: the Vienna Codex has ne akaratoc ezt tennetek “do not want to do this”, and the Munich Codex of 1466 has it 213 times in the four Gospels.^[5][6]

The Transylvanian records of the 16th–19th centuries show it with the imperative in direct prohibitions, in general rules (“let nobody ...”), and in pairs with se “nor”.^[7] Balassi already uses it in questions such as miért ne “why not”.^[8] The ÉrtSz adds its use in pleading, in wishes and oaths, and in modest suggestions put as questions.^[9]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century (TESz: about 1300) – ne leg “let there not be” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.^[3][2]
• About 1450 (text written after 1416) – ne akaratoc ezt tennetek in the Vienna Codex.^[5]
• 1466 – 213 uses in the Munich Codex.^[6]
• About 1493 – nee in the Festetics Codex.^[2][3]
• 1533 – ny in Komjáti's work.^[2][3]
• 1555 – the first of the Transylvanian records, a plea not to be thought forgetful.^[7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. don't, do not: with the imperative, forbidding an action: Ne nyúlj hozzá! “Don't touch it!”^[9][1]
2. In milder advice, warnings or encouragement: Ne aggódj, minden rendben lesz.^[9]
3. In pleading, asking someone to stop or give up something: Kérlek, ne menj el!^[9]
4. In wishes that something may not happen to oneself or to someone else, and in oaths: Bárcsak ne esne az eső!^[9]
5. In a question, putting a modest suggestion: Ne nyissak ablakot? “Shall I open a window?”^[9]

Related words

• nem
• se
• sem
• némely

Usage notes

A separate word, the interjection ne “here, take it!”, has an open /ɛ/ and is recorded from 1527; it also calls or feeds animals.^[10][3][9] It developed in Hungarian, perhaps from nézd “look!”, perhaps as an interjection, and with -sze it gave nesze (1566); Kniezsa rejects a Slavic source for it.^[10][3][11] Slovak ni “look!” is a loan of its variant ni.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 1010
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
4. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 464
6. ^ a b Szabó T., Ádám (ed.) (1985), A Müncheni Kódex szókincse (Der Wortschatz des Münchener Kodex), with the text of the Müncheni Kódex 1466 ed. Antal Nyíri and Gyula Décsy, Budapest, p. 467
7. ^ a b Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 9, 549
8. ^ Jakab, László; Bölcskei, Andrea (2000), Balassi-szótár, Debrecen (Számítógépes Nyelvtörténeti Adattár 8)
9. ^ a b c d e f g Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
10. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 1003
11. ^ Kniezsa, István (1955), A magyar nyelv szláv jövevényszavai I/1–2, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 894
12. ^ Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 619