eldertongue

Old English · adverb

na

Part of speech
adverb
IPA
/nɑː/
Syllables
nɑː (1 syllable)

na1 · adverb

Senses

  1. not

    Nis þæt nā rēad, ac is grēne.

    That's not red, it's green.

  2. no

    Þæt iċ cwæþ for þon āne þe iċ nā bet nysse.

    I only said that because I didn't know any better (literally, “no better”).

  3. never

    Hwǣr cōm symbla ġesetu? · Hwǣr sindon seledrēamas? Ēalā beorht bune! · Ēalā byrnwiga! Ēalā þēodnes þrym! · Hū sēo þrāg ġewāt, ġenāp under nihthelm, · swā hēo nō wǣre.

    Whither did the horse come? Whither did the man come? Whither did the treasure-giver come? Whither did the seats of feasts come? Where are the hall-joys? Alack and alas, bright cup! Alack and alas, mailed warrior! Alack and alas, the army of the king! How did the time pass, grow dark under the cover of night, as if it never did.

    Hwǣr cōm mearg? Hwǣr cōm mago? · Hwǣr cōm māþþumġyfa?

na2 · conjunction

Senses

  1. not

    Māre wundor is þæt God Ælmihtiġ ǣlce dæġe fētt ealne middanġeard þonne þæt wundor wǣre þæt hē þā ġefylde fīf þūsende manna mid fīf hlāfum—ac þæs wundrodon menn nā for þȳ þæt hit māre wundor wǣre, ac for þȳ þæt hit wæs unġewunelīċ.

    It's more of a miracle that God Almighty feeds the whole world every day than that he fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread—but that amazed people not because it was more miraculous, but because it was unusual.

    c. 992, Ælfric, "Midlent"

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *nai (“never”), equivalent to a contraction of ne (“not”) and ā (“ever”). Compare Old Norse nei, Old Frisian nā.

Descendants

no

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/na · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution