Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/271

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OSlov. nosŭ, m., Lith. nósis, Lat. nâsus, nâres. See further Nüstern.

naß, adj., ‘wet, moist,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. naȥ, adj.; corresponding to Goth. *nata-, nom. *nats, ‘wet’ (deduced from natjan; see netzen); OSax. and Du. nat. Teut. nata- can scarcely be connected with Sans. nadĭ, f., ‘river,’ because the latter is derived from a root nad, ‘to rush, roar.’ Perhaps Gr. νοτερός, ‘wet’ (νοτέω, ‘I am wet’), points, like the Teut. cognates, to a root not, nod (comp. Naß with Gr. κότος). Netz likewise may be primit. allied; see Netz and netzen. —

Naß, n., ‘humidity,’ from MidHG. naȥ, n., ‘fluid, moistness’; the adj. naß used as a neut. subst. —

Nässe, f., ‘humidity, moisture,’ from MidHG. nezze, OHG. nezzl, f., an abstract from naß.

Natter, f., ‘adder, viper, asp,’ from the equiv. MidHG. nâter, nâtere, OHG. nâtara, f.; corresponding to OSax. nâdra, Du. adder (for nadder; see under Nabe, Näber), AS. nœ̂ddre, E. adder (likewise, with the loss of the initial n, see Otter). Goth. *nêdro is wanting, the graded form nadrs, m., ‘adder,’ being used; OIc. naðr, naðra, ‘adder.’ A specifically Teut. word, the early history of which is not quite clear; it can scarcely be connected with Lat. natrix, ‘water-snake,’ which belongs to nare, natare, ‘to swim.’

Naue, f., ‘barque,’ from MidHG. nâwe, nœwe, f. and m., ‘small ship,’ espec. ‘ferryboat’; not primit. allied to Lat. nâvis, but rather borrowed from it in the MidHG. period. The Teut. cognate of Lat. nâvis, Gr. νηῦς, Sans. nãus, is OIc. nór, ‘ship,’ of which we should have expected the corresponding MidHG. form *nuowe. It is certainly remarkable that the Teut. primit. word corresponding to the Aryan terms adduced has been preserved only in Scand.

Nebel, m., ‘mist, fog, haze,’ from the equiv. MidHG. nëbel, OHG. nëbul; corresponding to OSax. nëbal, m., Du. nevel (in E. mist; see Mist). Goth. *nibls is wanting; allied to the OIc. compounds with nifl-, ‘darkness,’ to which njól, ‘night,’ is akin (comp. AS. nifol, ‘dark’). OHG. nëbul, from pre-Teut. nebholo-, corresponds to Gr. νεφέλη, ‘cloud, mist,’ Gr. νέφος, ‘cloud, mist,’ Lat. nĕbula, ‘mist,’ Sans. nábhas, n., ‘mist, cloud, dampness,’ OSlov. nebo (stem nebes-), n., ‘sky,’ OIr. nel, ‘cloud.’

neben, adv. and prepos., ‘beside, along with, in addition to,’ from MidHG. nëben,

shortened form of enében, OHG. nëben, inében, ‘beside’; as a compound of in and eben it signifies lit. ‘in the same line with,’ similarly AS. on efn, on emn, ‘alongside.’ Comp. the following word.

nebst, prep., ‘along with, together with,’ first occurs in early ModHG., with the variant nebenst. Borrowed from Du., in which nevens, ‘near to,’ occurs, which is etymologically equiv. to neben.

necken, vb., ‘to tease, banter,’ from MidHG. (MidG.) nęcken, ‘to excite the appetite,’ to which is allied MidHG. (MidG.) nachaft, ‘malicious, crafty,’ nac-heit, ‘malice, cunning’; not found in OHG. Of obscure origin. See Schabernack.

Neffe, m. (with abnormal ff), ‘nephew,’ from MidHG. nëve, OHG. něvo, m.; orig. existing in all the OTeut. dials. (now obsolete in Suab. and Bav.). The meaning in the older languages was not so definite as at present; MidHG. nëve, most frequently means ‘sister's son,’ also more rarely ‘brother's son,’ likewise ‘uncle,’ then generally ‘relative’; Du. neef, ‘grandson, nephew, cousin,’ AS. nëfa, ‘grandson, nephew’ (E. nephew is based on Fr. neveu), OIc. nefe, m., ‘relative.’ Goth. *nifa, m., is by chance not recorded. The cognates are primitive and common to the Aryan group; Teut. *nefôd, nom. sing. (of which there is a fem. form niftî; see Nichte), from pre-Teut. népôt, appears in Ind. nápât (stem náptṛ), ‘descendant, son, grandson,’ Lat. nepos, ‘grandson,’ Gr. ἀνεψιός, ‘first cousin,’ νέποδες, ‘brood,’ OIr. nia, ‘sister’s son.’ With regard to the fluctuation of meaning see Braut, Oheim, Vetter, and Schwager.

nehmen, vb., ‘to take, accept,’ from the equiv. MidHG. nëmen, OHG. nëman; a common Teut. str. vb. with the same signification throughout the group; comp. Goth., OSax., and AS. niman, OIc. nema. The most nearly allied in sense to these are Lat. emere and OIr. em (OSlov. imą?), ‘to take,’ with which nehmen is connected in sound if its initial n is the relic of a particle. OTeut. nëman may, however, be compared more probably with Gr. νέμω, ‘to distribute, pasture’ (trans.) γέμος (νόμος), ‘pasturage,’ equiv. to Lat. nemus, ‘grove,’ Gr. γόμος, ‘law,’ in which case it is especially connected with the mid. vb. νέμεσϑαι, ‘to distribute among themselves, possess, consider as, hold.’

Nehrung, f., ‘a long narrow strip of