nay

adv., interj.

Gaw naye

'no'

(Modern English nay)

Etymology

cp. OIcel nei ‘no’ < PGmc *ni-aiw-; cp. OE , OFris , , OS, OHG neo, nio, MLG .  In Gaw, nay (interj.) is always kept distinct from no < OE (adj., adverbial premodifier), as in the AB language.

PGmc Ancestor

*ni-aiw-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

nei 'no'
(ONP nei (2) (interj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far nei, Icel nei, Norw nei, ODan ney, Dan nej, OSw , næy

OE Cognate

, 'not, 'no', not at all, never'

Phonological and morphological markers

ON /ei/ &lt; PGmc */ai/

Summary category

A1*

Attestation

Widespread as an interjection in ME (since Orrm) and MnE dial.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 256, 279, 706, etc.; Cl 729, 743, 758; Erk 265; WA 298, 470, 1016 etc.

Bibliography

MED nai (interj.) , OED3 nay (adv.1 and n.) , HTOED , EDD nay (adv. and sb.), Dance nay, Bj. 47-8, de Vries nei, Mag. nei, AEW n-ā