Ancestors

Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-15 at 17:55

The English words 'no' and 'no' don't share a common ancestor. 'No', the opposite of 'yes', comes from Proto-West-Germanic *naiw (never), while 'no' as in 'no pain, no gain' comes from *nain (not any): it arose as a variant of 'none'.

'No' as opposed to 'yes' isn't related to German 'nein' and Dutch 'nee' either. Their only common part is 'n-', which comes from the Germanic negation particle *ne, also found in words such as 'not', 'neither' and 'never'.

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Written by Nasyd100 on 2025-01-15 at 19:00

@yvanspijk

In Afrikaans there is also "geen", abbreviated to "g'n" for "none". Wonder where that comes from...

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Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-15 at 19:12

@nasyd100 From Dutch 'geen' < Middle Dutch 'negeen, engeen' < Old Dutch 'nehēn' < Proto-Germanic *neh ainaz (not even one).

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Written by Peter Brown on 2025-01-17 at 02:49

@yvanspijk @nasyd100 German kein which though it looks totally different actually sounds fairly similar

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Toot

Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-17 at 08:21

@peterbrown @nasyd100 That's because it has a similar origin: it comes from Old High German 'nih ein', which subsequently became 'nehein, enhein' > 'kein'.

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Descendants