nawiht
Middle English
Pronoun
nawiht
- (Early Middle English) Alternative form of nought
Adverb
nawiht
- (Early Middle English) Alternative form of nought
Adjective
nawiht
- (Early Middle English) Alternative form of nought
Old English
Alternative forms
- nāht, nāuht, nāwuht, nōht, nōwiht
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *naiwwiht. Originally equivalent to ne + āwiht or nā + wiht.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈnɑːˌwixt/, [ˈnɑːˌwiçt]
Pronoun
nāwiht n
- nothing
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
- Nāwiht ne biþ yfel ǣr man wēne þæt hit yfel sīe.
- Nothing is bad until you think it's bad.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
- Sēo leofaþ nū þē, þē ānum, for þon þe hēo nāwiht elles ne lufaþ būtan þē.
- Now she lives for you, only you, because she loves nothing else but you.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
Usage notes
This word has a lot of variant forms:
- Contractions such as nāwht and nāht are very common, especially in adverbial use.
- Another frequent form, nān wiht, is a phrase made up of separate words; accordingly, both nān and wiht are inflected. Note that while the compound nāwiht is always neuter, wiht is often feminine as a standalone word, a feature that goes back to Proto-Germanic times: God ne ēht nānre wihte for þȳ hine nān wiht ne mæġ flēon ("God chases nothing [gen. sg. fem.] because nothing can run from him").
Declension
Declension of nawiht (strong a-stem)
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
nominative | nāwiht | — |
accusative | nāwiht | — |
genitive | nāwihtes | — |
dative | nāwihte | — |
Adverb
nāwiht
- not (used to negate adjectives, especially in phrases like "not long ago" and "not far from")
- Life of St. Guthlac
- Is on Bretenne lande sum fenn unmǣtre miċelnesse þe onġinþ fram Grantan ēa, nāht feorr fram þǣre ċeastre þȳ ilcan naman, is nemned Grante ċeaster.
- There is in Britain a swamp of immense size that begins at the River Granta, not far from the city of the same name, which is called Grantchester. (Note: since ċeaster was both a word for "city" and a place name suffix, Grante ċeaster could also be translated "Granta city" or "the city of Granta," so the author's statement makes perfect sense in Old English.)
- Life of St. Guthlac
- used with ne for emphasis; not at all (often left untranslated)
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
- Ne ondrǣde iċ heora mē nū nāwht.
- I'm not scared of them at all now.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
- Ne mæġ iċ þē nāwht helan þæs þe iċ wāt.
- I can't hide from you what I know.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
Descendants
- Middle English: nought, noght, nouȝt, noȝt; not
- English: nought, naught, nowt; not
- Scots: nocht, nowt; nat (obsolete)