Etymologically
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ne

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Pronunciation

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]
  • 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