Where does “non” come from?
non (Middle English) comes from Old English nōn, from Latin nōna, from Latin nōnus, from Latin novenos, from Latin novem, from Latin novo, from Proto-Italic nowāō, from Proto-Indo-European néweh₂ti — new; to nod, assent to.
non (Middle English): no, not any; not, not at all; not one
Definitions
- no, not any; not, not at all; not one
Ancestry of “non”, step by step
non traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old English nōn
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old English | nōn | noon; the ninth hour; the ninth hour |
| 2 | Latin | nōna | nones canonical hour |
| 3 | Latin | nōnus | ninth |
| 4 | Latin | novenos | accusative masculine plural of novēnus |
| 5 | Latin | novem | nine; 9; first-person singular present active... |
| 6 | Latin | novo | I make new, renew, refresh; I alter, change;... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | nowāō | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | néweh₂ti | to renew |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | néwos | new |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | new- | new; to nod, assent to |
via Old English nān
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old English | nān | none, not any; not one, not any, none; no, not... |
| 2 | Proto-West Germanic | nain | — |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | nainaz | not any |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | nē | not |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | aiwaz | long time, age, eternity |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂eyu- | vitality; eternal; vital force, life, long life,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ey- | vital force, life, age, eternity; day, morning |