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nullus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word nullus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 280–200 BC, Livius Andronicus
Ultimate origin
Latin (ūnus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nullus
French nul

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnuːl.lʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnul.lus][1]

Forms

nūllus (feminine nūlla, neuter nūllum); first/second-declension pronoun (pronominal declension or non-pronominal declension)[1]

Etymology

It goes back to *ne oinolos (“not a little one”), from the negative ne- and a diminutive of ūnus (“one”) (older ⟨oinos⟩), from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”).[2][1] ūllus (“any”) is probably a later formation; by the surface analysis ⟨nūllus⟩ is ⟨ne⟩ + ⟨ūllus⟩, “not any”.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in a royal law and in Livius Andronicus;[3] Plautus has nūlla contrōversia mihi tēcum erit “I shall have no quarrel with you”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Nūllus means “no, not any”; as a noun it supplies the genitive and ablative of nēmō (nūllīus, nūllō) and means “no one”.[2][4] A following negative turns it into an affirmative (nūllus nōn “everyone”).[2] In early and colloquial Latin it serves as an emphatic “not”, and as a complement it means “non-existent, not there”.[2][1]

English null “void of legal force”, recorded from the 1560s, comes from it through French nul.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.[3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nūllan tibi lingua est? “have you no tongue?”[2][3]
  • 1560s – English null, through French.[5]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. no, not any.[2][4]
  2. (as noun) No one, nobody;[2][1] (neuter) nothing.[2][1]
  3. nūllus nōn, every; everyone.[2]
  4. (colloquial) Not at all.[1]
  5. Non-existent, not there.[2]

Word family

  • nōnnūllus
  • nūllātenus
  • nūllusdum
  • annūllō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Nullus.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nullus. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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