Where does “No” come from?

No (Latin) comes from Proto-Italic snāō, from Proto-Indo-European (s)neh₂- — to swim; to float.

No (Latin): to swim

Definitions

  1. to swim

Ancestry of “No”, step by step

No traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Proto-Italic snāō

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Italicsnāōswim; bathe
2Proto-Indo-European(s)neh₂-to swim; to float

via Proto-Indo-European sneh-

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Indo-Europeansneh-to swim, to flow

Words derived from “No”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)neh₂- →Every word from Proto-Italic snāō →