nu

Forms

nu^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōn (“not”), the Latin negation that survives in most Romance languages.^[2][3][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain the form by the two ways Latin used the word in the sentence: unstressed, it was reduced to a form that survives only in compounds as ne-; stressed, it lost its final /n/, first before consonants and then everywhere, which gave the present form.^[4]

The word is found in all four branches: Aromanian nu, Megleno-Romanian nu and Istro-Romanian nu.^[2][5][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian non, French non, Catalan no, Spanish no and Portuguese não.^[2][7] The compound numai “only” comes from the same negation and magis (“more”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to Neacșu's letter of 1521.^[8] The word is already frequent in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century, which opens with it in the first verse of Psalm 1.^[9] MDA2 gives its first record as the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its Latin role of negating the verb, and it also serves as the answer “no”.^[10][1] Old texts show the variants no and nă: both appear in Coresi's psalter of 1570, and the Psaltirea Scheiană has na.^[11][12][13] MDA2 labels no obsolete and na, nă regional.^[3]

Tiktin notes a pleonastic use after question words in exclamations, where the negation adds emphasis rather than denying anything.^[8] DEX describes the same use in questions and exclamations that have a positive meaning.^[10]

Timeline

• 1521 – first record, in Neacșu's letter.^[8]
• early 16th century – frequent in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[9]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1570 – the variants no and nă in Coresi's psalter.^[11][12]

Meanings

Adverb

1. not: placed before a verb to make it negative, in every mood except the gerund, participle and supine: Nu am înțeles întrebarea.^[10][3]
2. Negating another part of the sentence than the verb: A vorbit calm, nu cum se aștepta.^[10]
3. Before a word other than the verb, weakening it or giving it the opposite sense: o seară nu lipsită de farmec “an evening not without charm”.^[10]
4. Standing for a negative verb already mentioned: Unii vin, alții nu.;^[10] nu și nu expresses flat refusal.^[10]
5. no: as a reply of its own: Ai mâncat? – Nu!^[10][1]

Related words

• numai
• Latin nōn
• Aromanian nu

Usage notes

In the expressions nu altceva and nu glumă the word confirms what was just said;^[10] nu o dată means “often”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. nu
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 171
4. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. nu
5. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 787
6. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. nu
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5951
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nu
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 1:1
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 723
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 84:7
12. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 50:6
13. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 109:1