An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/nein

by Friedrich Kluge

nein, adv., ‘no,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. nein (negative adv.); so too OSax. nên (in the Heliand), ‘no’; derived from the Goth. adv. of negation ni, OHG. ni, MidHG. en-ne (which also appears in the n of nicht, nie, and nirgend), and the neut. of the indefinite article OHG., MidHG., and ModHG. ein, equiv. to Goth. ains; nein is therefore ‘not one’ (comp. nichts, meaning ‘not something’). The approximate source of E. no is the equiv. AS. nâ (OIc. nei), in Goth. nê, ‘no.’ The Goth. negative ni, etymologically cognate with un- and ohne, belongs to the same class as Gr. νη (e.g. νη-κερδής, ‘unprofitable’), Lat. nĕ (in nĕfas) and nē̆, ‘not, lest, in order that not,’ Sans. na, OSlov. ne, ‘not,’ Lith. ne, ‘not.’