ni French · revision 16372

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=842, Serments de Strasbourg (ne)|origins=la nec}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ni/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ni'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|ne]] (842); ''ni'' from 1229, rare until the end of the 15th century, often written ''ny'' in the 16th.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It continues Old French [[m|fro|ne]], [[inh|la|nec|t=and not, nor]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|7, 72b)^(Wiktionary) Latin “nec” was a variant of [[m|la|neque]], used first before consonants, which displaced the full form; it goes back to the Indo-European sentence negation [[ine-pro|*ne]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The form “ni” probably arose in groups where “ne” stood before an old demonstrative such as “icel” or “icelui”, or before the pronoun [[il]] (''n'icel“, ”n'il“).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Rey adds that its spread may have been helped by the neighbouring Occitan dialects, which closed ”e“ to ”i'' in hiatus ([[pro|ni]], after 1150).^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg think it won because it was more expressive than “ne”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|né]], [[es|ni]], [[ca|ni]] and [[pt|nem]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Serments de Strasbourg (842) have ''ne'' repeated: ''ne io ne neuls cui eo returnar int pois'' “neither I nor anyone I can turn from it”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French ''ne'' linked a negative clause to another, and it was also used where the negation was only implied, in questions, comparisons, conditions and concessions, with the sense “and” or “or”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) At first it stood only before the last term; the modern rule of putting it before each term, urged by Malherbe and then Vaugelas, was slow to take hold.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Ni'' appears in the 13th century and in Froissart's writings, struggles with ''ne'' through the 16th century, and wins in the 17th.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Vaugelas, who defended ''ne'', admitted that it was an old word used only “along the Loire”.^(DHLF 1992) Today, except in literary style and in ''ni… ni…'', it is generally replaced by ''et'' after a negative, and it is required after ''sans'' (''sans col ni cravate'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – ''Ne… ne'' in the Serments de Strasbourg.^(TLFi)

+ * 881 – ''Ned'' before a vowel in the ''Séquence de sainte Eulalie''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Plus se fait fiers que leon ne leupart'' in the ''Chanson de Roland'', after a comparative.^(TLFi)

+ * 1229 – First record of the form ''ni''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * Late 14th century – ''Ni'' appears in Froissart.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 17th century – ''Ni'' replaces ''ne'', Vaugelas calls ''ne'' an old word of the Loire.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # Neither, nor: joins words or clauses in a negative sentence, usually repeated: ''ni toi ni moi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Links verbs when the negation bears on the verb: ''il ne veut ni ne peut refuser''.^(Larousse)

+ # After ''sans'': ''sans col ni cravate''.^(Larousse)

+ # In set phrases: ''ni plus ni moins'', ''ni oui ni non'', ''ni Dieu ni maître''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ne]]

+ * [[nier]]

+ * [[la|nec]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Littré notes that the old ''ne'' survives only in the joking repetition of ''ne plus ne moins'' from Molière's ''Malade imaginaire''.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}