< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic
Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ni
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
From Proto-Balto-Slavic *nei, from Proto-Indo-European *nе́y, a locative case of Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”). Cognate with Latvian and Lithuanian nei and related to Latin nī, Proto-Germanic *nai.
Conjunction
*ni[1][2]
- neither, nor
- Synonym: *i ne
Usage notes
Corresponds to the conjunction meaning of neither ... nor ... For emphasize, the form Proto-Slavic *ni to could be used instead. The adverb function of neither (“not even”) is principally expressed by Proto-Slavic *ni že, however, *ni is also applicable in this sense.
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: ни (ni)
- Belarusian: ні (ni)
- Russian: ни (ni)
- Ukrainian: ні (ni)
- Old East Slavic: ни (ni)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Old Cyrillic: ни (ni)
- Glagolitic: ⱀⰹ (ni)
- Bulgarian: ни (ni)
- Macedonian: ни (ni)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ни, ⇒ ни̏ти
- Latin: ni, ⇒ nȉti
- ⇒ Slovene: niti
- Old Church Slavonic:
- West Slavic:
- Czech: ni (archaic)
- ⇒ Czech: ani
- Polish: ni
- ⇒ Polish: ani
- Slovak: ni (archaic)
- ⇒ Slovak: ani
- Sorbian:
- Upper Sorbian: ni, nje
- Lower Sorbian: ni
- Czech: ni (archaic)
Further reading
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1999), “*ni”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 25 (*neroditi – *novotьnъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 106
- Georgiev V. I., Duridanov I., editor (1995), “ни¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 4, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 635
Adverb
*ni
- not even
Derived terms
- *ni edinъ (“not even one”), *ni edьnažь (“not even once”)
- *ni by (“as if, seemingly”)
- *ni že (“neither”)
- *ni ma (“not at all, really?”)
Further reading
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1999), “*ni by”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 25 (*neroditi – *novotьnъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 106
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1999), “*ni edinъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 25 (*neroditi – *novotьnъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 107
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1999), “*ni že”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 25 (*neroditi – *novotьnъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 108
- Georgiev V. I., Duridanov I., editor (1995), “нима”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 4, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 650
References
- Derksen, Rick (2008), “*ni”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 352: “conj., ptcl ‘nor, not’”
- Olander, Thomas (2001), “ni”, in Common Slavic accentological word list, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “(pcl.) (PR 146)”