Origin of an English two letter word

LAA   Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:00 pm GMT
"No"

This is basically the same as all Latin languages, while it's slightly different from most other Germanic languages. Did English just adopt "no" from French perhaps?
Fredrik from Norway   Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:31 pm GMT
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, English "no" comes from Old English "na", possibly from Proto-Germanic "*ne".
It is rather hard to determine, after all the word is very similar both in Germanic and Romance language. But the English form is a diphtong, which the Romance forms aren't.
But possibly the spelling of English "no" has been influenced by French.
JakubikF   Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:14 pm GMT
I suppose that in general in every indo-europenian language "no" comes from the same origin.
In addition all slavic language have the same origin-form of "no".
These are: nie, нет, ne and etc. It's interesting that proto-germanic "ne" looks like one of the slavic form.
greg   Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:37 pm GMT
Je serais davantage intéressé par l'origine du doublet <ne... ne...> qui — coïncidence ? — ressemble comme deux gouttes d'eau à l'ancien français <ne... ne...>.
-Q-   Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:45 am GMT
>> "No"

This is basically the same as all Latin languages, while it's slightly different from most other Germanic languages. Did English just adopt "no" from French perhaps? <<

No, it did not adopt it from French. [a] in Old English consistently shifts to "o" in Modern English, and is cognate with "ei" in German: for example Old English "stan" -> Modern English "stone" and German "Stein". Old English ane -> Modern English "one" and German "eins".
Philip   Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:54 am GMT
I have heard the term 'Nay' and 'Yay' (unsure of the spelling) used for inhouse parliament votings. Is the word 'Nay' of Germanic orgins? To me it's much similar to the Dutch 'Nee'.

Any comments?
Philip   Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:42 am GMT
<My sources say that the word is Middle English from Old Norse nei (Nei still means "no" in Swedish). The root (*ni-; *ne-) is widespread in Indo-European languages': Russian nyet>

Yeah the Russian 'nyet' sounds very Germanic to me. Could it be from the early settlers of Northern European stock that settled in the areas of North Russia especially outside St Peterburg?

I have heard that Hindi also say 'nay' or something similar. It amazes me such a simple word is one of the 'founding vocab' of the European family. Are there other examples of such a well travelled word/s?
Fredrik from Norway   Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:05 pm GMT
Philip:
The word "no" didn't travel alone! Most Indo-European languages have travelled far away from some mysterious Indo-European homeland!
To Fredrik   Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:36 am GMT
Fredrik from Norway wrote:
"...But the English form is a diphtong, which the Romance forms aren't..."


This is not true, since in portuguese "no" is "nao", with a tilde on the a. And it is a nasalized dipthong
Fredrik from Norway   Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:38 pm GMT
I see, I didn't know!
To Fredrik   Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:16 am GMT
One lives and learns. Thanks for your answer!
JR   Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:26 am GMT
Phillip:

Some other words I have come accross that are very similar in different language are the words:

Month:
Mah in Persian
Mas in Sanskrit
Mes in Spanish

Mother:
Mutter in German
Madar in Persian
Matar in Sanskrit
Madre in Spanish
Moder in Swedish

New:
Neu in German
Nau in Persian
Nava in Sanskrit
Nova in Latin (and Portuguese and Italian)

Nose:
Nas in Sanskrit
Näsa in Swedish
Nase in German
Nose in English

Three:
Trayas in Sanskrit
Tres in Spanish
Tre in Swedish

- However, for words outside the Indo-European family of Indo-European origin, I don't have any.
Q   Sun Oct 15, 2006 4:26 am GMT
>> - However, for words outside the Indo-European family of Indo-European origin, I don't have any. <<

How about kuningas in Estonian from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz.
Redjack   Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:23 pm GMT
<<>> "No"

This is basically the same as all Latin languages, while it's slightly different from most other Germanic languages. Did English just adopt "no" from French perhaps? <<

No, it did not adopt it from French. [a] in Old English consistently shifts to "o" in Modern English, and is cognate with "ei" in German: for example Old English "stan" -> Modern English "stone" and German "Stein". Old English ane -> Modern English "one" and German "eins". >> ---Q-

Quite right. The shift from 'a' to 'o' is a result of i-mutation which happened somewhere between Old and Modern English. Some more examples of this can be seen in these words.
O.E Lang = M.E Long
O.E Strang = M.E Strong
O.E Geþrang = M.E Throng
O.E Wrang = M.E Wrong
O.E Ban = M.E Bone
guest   Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:12 pm GMT
<<The shift from 'a' to 'o' is a result of i-mutation which happened somewhere between Old and Modern English>>



not exactly due to i-mutation. i-mutation is the raising of the vowel caused by an i/j (y to us) sound in the following syllable, like OE fyllan < fulljan, or fet < fotiz, etc., and occurred in proto-Old English around 300-450 AD. This mutation continues to appear in words like strong/strength; broad/breadth; sat/set; fox/vixen, etc.

the change of Old English long a (pronounced like the a in father) to o took it through a southern Middle English sound like the aw in law: hence OE na ("naah") > ME na/no ("naw"/"nooh") to Modern no ("nou").