eldertongue

Old English · adverb

nahwær

Part of speech
adverb
IPA
/ˈnɑːˌxwæːr/
[ˈnɑːˌʍæːr]
Syllables
ˈnɑː · ˌxwæːr (2 syllables)
Modern English
nowherenever

Meaning

  1. nowhere (in no place)

    Iċ sōhte mīnne codd, ac hē næs nāhwǣr tō findenne.

    I looked for my bag, but it was nowhere to be found.

  2. never, in no case

    Foresetnessa ne bēoþ nāhwǣr āna, ac bēoþ ǣfre tō sumum ōðrum worde ġefēġeda.

    Prepositions never occur by themselves, but are always joined to some other word.

    c. 995, Ælfric, Excerptiones de Arte Grammatica Anglice
  3. in no respect, not at all

    Eall mancynn and eall nīetenu ne notiaþ nāhwǣr nēah fēorðan dǣles þisse Eorðan.

    All of mankind and all the animals use nowhere near a quarter of this Earth.

    c. 900, the Old English Boethius

Etymology

nā (“no”) + hwǣr (“where”).

Descendants

nowhere

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nahwær · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution · Report a problem with this entry