niht

Middle English

Noun

niht

Alternative form of nyght

Old English

FWOTD – 4 May 2018

Alternative forms

næht, neaht, nieht, neht, nyht

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *nahti, inflected form of *naht[1], from Proto-Germanic *nahts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (the alternative forms næht, neaht directly continue Proto-West Germanic *naht).

Cognate with Old Frisian nacht, Old Saxon naht, Old High German naht, Old Norse nátt, Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts); also with Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), Latin nox, Russian ночь (nočʹ).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nixt/, [niçt]

Noun

niht f

night[2]
On niht biþ sēo ēa ġīet wlitiġre þonne on dæġ.
The river is even more beautiful at night than in the daytime.
- late 10th century, Ælfric, On the Seasons of the Year
  Sēo niht hæfþ seofon dǣlas fram þǣre sunnan setlunge oþ hire upgang.
  The night has seven phases from sunset to sunrise.
day (when computing spans of time)
for tīen nihtum
ten days ago

Declension

Declension of niht (strong consonant stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	niht	niht
accusative	niht	niht
genitive	niht	nihta
dative	niht	nihtum

Antonyms

dæġ

Derived terms

ēasterniht
efnniht
frīġeniht
mæsseniht
midniht
middelniht
mōnanniht
nihtbealu
nihtbuttorfleōge
-nihte
nihtīeġe
nihteald
nihteġesa
nihtegale
nihterne
nihtes
nihtfeormung
nihtgenġa
nihtgenġe
nihtġerīm
nihtġield
nihtglōm
nihthelm
nihthræfn
nihthrōc
nihtlang
nihtlanges
nihtlīċ
*nihtmare
nihtnihstiġ
nihtrest
nihtrīm
nihtsang
nihtsċada
nihtscūa
nihtslǣp
nihtwacu
nihtwaru
nihtweard
sæternniht
sinnihte
sunnanniht
þunresniht
tīwesniht
wōdnesniht
ġiestranniht

Descendants

Middle English: nyght, naht, night, nighte, niȝt, niht, nyghte, nyȝt, nyȝte, nyhte
- English: night
  - Northumbrian: neet
- Scots: nicht, neicht
- Yola: neeght, nieght, nyeght

References

Ringe, Donald; Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 240
Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “niht”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[1] Ringe, Donald; Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 240

[2] Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “niht”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.