nay
Translingual
editSymbol
editnay
See also
editEnglish
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English nai, nei, from Old Norse nei (“no”), contraction of ne (“not”) + ei (“ever”), itself from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”). More at no.
The verb is from Middle English nayen (“to refuse, deny, gainsay”), from the interjection and adverb above.
Pronunciation
editAdverb
editnay (not comparable)
- (archaic or regional, otherwise humorous) No. [from 12th c.]
- 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 243:
- Duke Magnus, Duke Magnus, plight thee to me,
I pray you still so freely;
Say me not nay, but yes, yes!
- (archaic or regional) Introducing a statement, without direct negation. [from 14th c.]
- 1876, Henry James, Roderick Hudson:
- Nay, what are you smiling at so damnably?
- (archaic, otherwise humorous) Or rather, or should I say; moreover (introducing a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one). [from 16th c.]
- His face was dirty, nay, filthy.
- 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:
- […] And proved not only horse, but cows, / Nay pigs, were of the elder house: / For beasts, when man was but a piece / Of earth himself, did th' earth possess.
- 1748, David Hume, chapter 18, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973:
- And even in our wildest and most wandering reveries, nay in our very dreams, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not altogether at adventures,
- 2016 February 2, John Dryden, The works of John Dryden, Vol.7: Top English Literature (Top English Literature)[2], VM eBooks:
- And all rejected: Has this course been used? Arch. We grant it has not; but— King. Nay, give me leave,— I urge, from your own grant, it has not been. If then, in process of a petty sum, Both parties having not been fully heard, […]
- 1858, Charles Kent, The Derby Ministry: A Series of Cabinet Pictures, page 237:
- Earnestly bent upon fulfilling the weighty, nay solemn, responsibilities of his office at all hazard, even at the risk of so far neglecting his parliamentary duties as to appear upon the division-list less frequently than any of his colleagues, Sir John Pakington wore the wooden spoon at the whitebait dinner, though with an air of waggery — almost as a decoration.
Usage notes
editIn Early Modern English, nay was used to respond to a positive question, while no was used to respond to a negative question. Over time, this distinction disappeared.
Translations
edit
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Interjection
editnay
Derived terms
editNoun
editnay (plural nays)
- A vote against.
- Antonyms: aye, yea
- I vote nay, even though the motion is popular, because I would rather be right than popular.
- 2009 January 6, “Still Broken After All These Years”, in The New York Times[3], archived from the original on 2018-01-26:
- Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.
- A person who voted against.
- The vote is 4 in favor and 20 opposed; the nays have it.
- (archaic) A denial; a refusal.[1]
- 14th c, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Clerk's Tale”, in D. Laing Purves, editor, The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene, with Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser[4], published 1870, page 100:
Verb
editnay (third-person singular simple present nays, present participle naying, simple past and past participle nayed)
- (obsolete) To refuse.
- 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:
- the cardinall then being bishop of Winchester, tooke vpon him the state of cardinall, which was naied and denaied him, by the king of most noble memorie
Adjective
editnay (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Nary; not any
- 'Tis easy to do this experiment, though nay substance will do: we shall need a special one.
- Nay man could have come out of such a situation unscathed.
- 1761, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Second Part”, in A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind, R. & J. Dodsley, page 120:
- nay other Nations [beyond the Native American ones] seem to have continued in a State of Barbarism, as long as they continued to exercise one only of these Arts [Metallurgy and Agriculture] without the other;
- 1858, Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, page 347:
- His house was so closely beset by the populace, day and night, that scarcely nay person ventured to visit him; and he was afraid that his chapel would be burned to the ground.
References
editAnagrams
editAbau
editPronunciation
editNoun
editnay class I gender mf
- my younger sibling; used to address a sibling of the speaker who is younger than the speaker and of the same sex
- Seseyn, nay-ih hiykwe senkin lon, kow senkin lon ― Accordingly, the younger brother did as the older brother had instructed him to do.
Declension
editform | |
---|---|
term of address | nay |
term of reference | nay-ih |
References
edit- Lock, Arnold Hugo. 2011. Abau Grammar. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages 57. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: SIL-PNG Academic Publications. Available online.
- Table 12: Vowel harmony in the suffixation of kinship terms, p.29 (lists "nay" / "nay-ih")
- Footnote 3, p.29 (clarifies gender usage for "nay-ih")
- Table 21: Nouns observed in texts, marked for gender & numeral class, p.67 (lists "ney" [child] as Class 1, m/f)
Ainu
editPronunciation
editNoun
editnay (Kana spelling ナィ)
Trivia
editThe ainu word -nay is frequently seen in names of places in Hokkaido and Northeast Japan, such as Wakkanai, Shizunai, etc.
Kankanaey
editPronunciation
editDeterminer
editnay
Adverb
editnay
Interjection
editnay
References
edit- Morice Vanoverbergh (1933) “nay”, in A Dictionary of Lepanto Igorot or Kankanay. As it is spoken at Bauco (Linguistische Anthropos-Bibliothek; XII)[5], Mödling bei Wien, St. Gabriel, Österreich: Verlag der Internationalen Zeitschrift „Anthropos“, →OCLC, page 314
- Allen, Larry (2021) “nay”, in Kankanaey – English Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics
Tagalog
editPronunciation
edit- (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ˈnaj/ [ˈn̪aɪ̯]
- Rhymes: -aj
- Syllabification: nay
Noun
editnay (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜌ᜔)
- clipping of nanay
Anagrams
editTocharian B
editNoun
editnay
Vietnamese
editEtymology
editCognate with này.
Pronunciation
edit- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [naj˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [naj˧˧]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [na(ː)j˧˧]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)
Adjective
edit- (of a day or time of day) that is today, or happening today
- sáng/trưa/chiều/tối/đêm nay ― this morning/forenoon/afternoon/evening/night
- bữa/hôm nay ― today
- Sáng nay ăn sáng chưa?
- Have you had breakfast this morning?
Noun
edit- (usually literary) now, the present, as opposed to xưa (“long ago; the past”) and mai (“later in the future”)
- Nay không lo làm thì mai không có ăn đâu.
- If you don't work today, you won't be able to afford to eat tomorrow.
- Xưa cả làng sợ họ nhà nó lắm. Nay chẳng ai sợ cái cóc khô gì cả.
- The whole village used to fear their family. These days, though, nobody fears a damn thing.
Derived terms
editAdverb
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
edit- này (“this”)
- Translingual lemmas
- Translingual symbols
- ISO 639-3
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/1 syllable
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- Ainu terms with IPA pronunciation
- Ainu lemmas
- Ainu nouns
- Kankanaey 1-syllable words
- Kankanaey terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Kankanaey/aj
- Rhymes:Kankanaey/aj/1 syllable
- Kankanaey lemmas
- Kankanaey determiners
- Kankanaey adverbs
- Kankanaey interjections
- Tagalog 1-syllable words
- Tagalog terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Tagalog/aj
- Rhymes:Tagalog/aj/1 syllable
- Tagalog terms with mabilis pronunciation
- Tagalog lemmas
- Tagalog nouns
- Tagalog terms with Baybayin script
- Tagalog clippings
- Tocharian B lemmas
- Tocharian B nouns
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Vietnamese lemmas
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- Vietnamese nouns
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- Vietnamese adverbs
- Vietnamese clippings