Where does “nary” come from?
Nary derives from English ne'er a, a contraction of never a meaning "not a single," which developed from Old English ān meaning "one," itself from Latin ō and ultimately Proto-Indo-European h₂epo and al-.
nary (English): Not, never
Definitions
- Not, never
Ancestry of “nary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ne'er a | Not a single; no; never a |
| 2 | English | a | The ordinal number first, derived from this... |
| 3 | Middle English | a | Alternative form of I; Alternative form of heo;... |
| 4 | Old English | ān | lonely; entirely alone, solitary, single; one |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | ain | one |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | ainaz | one; some |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | óynos | one; single |