Etymologically
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né

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Pronunciation

Forms

né (invariable; literary ned before a vowel)[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nec (“and not, nor”).[5][6][7][1] The Latin word is the shortened form of neque used before consonants, a compound of the negation ne (“not”) and the enclitic -que (“and”).[6][1][5] The word is panromance: French ni, Occitan ni, Catalan ni, Spanish ni, Portuguese nem and Sardinian nei, while Romanian nici comes from the full form.[6]

Treccani notes that the conjunction doubles a following single consonant (syntactic doubling), as the spelling shows in compounds such as nemmeno and neppure.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Ritmo laurenziano, at the end of the 12th century, where né joins two or more negative elements or clauses.[5][6] GRADIT dates it to the 13th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the euphonic ned before a vowel: Rustico writes “non è folle ned erra” (he is not foolish nor does he err).[4] Né could be strengthened by a second negation, as in Dante's “né fiamma d'esto incendio non m'assale” (nor does a flame of this fire assail me), and could mean “not even” or “so that not”, senses now obsolete.[3][9] At the head of a sentence it gives a literary emphasis, as in Foscolo's “Né più mai toccherò le sacre sponde” (never again shall I touch the sacred shores).[7][3][8]

The compounds of né with other adverbs date from the 14th to the 17th century: neppure 14th century, neanche 15th, nemmanco 16th and nemmeno 17th, in Nocentini's dates;[6][5] DELI's first neanche is Paolo Segneri in 1686.[6][5]

Timeline

  • End of the 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has the first record.[5][6]
  • 14th century – Neppure is recorded.[6]
  • 15th century – Neanche is recorded.[6]
  • 16th century – Nemmanco is recorded.[6]
  • 17th century – Nemmeno is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. neither … nor: repeated before each of two or more elements of a negative sentence: Non mangia né carne né formaggio.[7][10][2]
  2. And not, nor: joining two or more negative clauses: Non è uscito né ha telefonato.[7][10][2]
  3. (literary) And not, joining a positive clause to a negative one, or opening a sentence with negative force.[7][2][3]
  4. (obsolete) Not even.[7][3][9]
  5. (obsolete) So that not.[7][3][9]

Word family

Usage notes

When the elements joined by né come before the verb, the verb has no non (né Luca né Anna sono partiti); when they follow it, the verb takes non (non sono partiti né Luca né Anna).[2] Many idioms use it: né carne né pesce (neither one thing nor the other), né più né meno (exactly), né punto né poco (not at all), non fare né caldo né freddo (to leave one indifferent) and senza capo né coda (without rhyme or reason).[7][3][8][1] The older spelling nè with a grave accent is a variant.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier