no

Forms

nō (present infinitive nāre, perfect active nāvī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(s)nāje/o- (“to swim”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”).^[2] Cognate with Old Irish snaïd (“to swim”), Sanskrit स्नाति (snā́ti, “bathes”) and Ancient Greek νήχω (nḗkhō, “to swim”).^[2][3] Whether Umbrian snata (“cleansed”) belongs here is uncertain.^[2] The frequentative natō (“to swim, float”) was built on an old participle ⟨*natos⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan lists it from Plautus,^[2] who mentions the rush float put on boys learning to swim.^[3][4] Ennius has “one wants to swim, the other is ready to fight”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is “to swim”, and of things “to float”, as Virgil's feathers floating on the water.^[3] Poets use it of ships sailing, as Catullus' pines that swam through the waters, and of birds flying through the clear summer air.^[3] Lucretius says that when wine has penetrated a man his tongue slows and his eyes swim.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of boys learning to swim.^[3][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[4][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of swimming eyes.^[3][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of sailing ships.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swim.^[3][4][1]
2. To float; of ships, to sail; of birds, to fly.^[3][1]
3. Of the eyes, to swim, lose focus.^[3]

Word family

• adnō
• circumnō
• ēnō
• innō
• natō
• rēnō
• supernō
• trānsnō
• innābilis
• trānō

Usage notes

Jerome uses No as the name of an Egyptian city, perhaps Alexandria or Thebes.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de