nolo

Forms

nōlō (present infinitive nōlle, perfect active nōluī); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no gerund^[1] Plautus has nevīs for nōn vīs and nevolt for nōn vult, and Caecilius nōltis.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is contracted from ⟨*ne volō⟩, formed from Latin ne- + volō (“to want”), “not to want”.^[2][4][1] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, want”), comparing Sanskrit वृणीते (vṛṇīté, “chooses”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on: nōlō ego metuī, amārī mālō, “I do not want to be feared, I prefer to be loved”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Nōlle means “to be unwilling, not to want”, often “to refuse” or “not to intend”, and velim nōlim is “whether one likes it or not”.^[2][5] With an accusative and infinitive or a subjunctive it means “to be unwilling that”, and nōllem “I wish it had not happened”.^[2] With a simple accusative it means “not to want, not to care for”.^[2]

The imperative nōlī, nōlīte with an infinitive forms a polite prohibition, “do not …” (nōlī īrāscī “don't be angry”).^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nōlō ego metuī, amārī mālō;^[2] nōlī īrāscier.^[2]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: nōlī metuere, “don't be afraid”.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: prōmīsisse nōllem, “I wish he had not promised”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be unwilling, not to want;^[2][3][1] to refuse.^[2][5]
2. velim nōlim, whether one likes it or not.^[2]
3. (with accusative and infinitive) To be unwilling that;^[2] nōllem, I wish it had not happened.^[2]
4. (with accusative) Not to want, not to care for.^[2]
5. nōlī, nōlīte (with infinitive), do not …^[2][1]

Word family

• nolentia
• nōluntās

Related words

• volō
• mālō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de