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Definition 2024


See also: Appendix:Variations of "ni"

Irish

Noun

  1. A prefix used with a woman's maiden surname
    Deirdre Cheallaigh – literally "Deirdre, daughter of a descendant of Ceallach" (anglicized form Deirdre Kelly)

Usage notes

This prefix replaces the prefix Ó found in male surnames, and triggers lenition of a following consonant. It is used by unmarried women, and by married women who have kept their maiden name. Thus Deirdre Ní Cheallaigh's father and brothers would use the surname Ó Ceallaigh.

Related terms

  • Ó (used in male names)
  • bean Uí, (used with a woman's married name)
  • Nic (used in place of the male Mac prefix)

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ni"

Cogui

Noun

  1. water

References

  • Grace Hensarli, The function of -ki 'switch' in Kogi

Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /n̠ʲiː/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish (anything; thing)

Alternative forms

  • nídh (obsolete)

Noun

 m (genitive singular , nominative plural nithe)

  1. thing
  2. object
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Irish nige.

Alternative forms

  • nighe (obsolete)
  • níochán (Cois Fharraige)

Noun

 f (genitive singular nite)

  1. verbal noun of nigh

Verb

  1. present subjunctive analytic of nigh

Etymology 3

From Old Irish .

Particle

  1. not (preverbal particle)
    thuigim. ― I do not understand.
    dheachaigh mé ansin. ― I did not go there.
    bhfaighidh siad é. ― They will not find it.
  2. not (present copular form)
    críonnacht creagaireacht. ― Miserliness is not thrift.
    hionann iad. ― They are not the same.
    An gloine é? hea. ― Is it glass? No.
Usage notes

The preverbal particle triggers lenition of a following consonant. It is not used in the past tense except for some irregular verbs. It takes the dependent form of irregular verbs. The copular form triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel.

Related terms
  • cha (nonstandard)
  • níor (used in the past tense with regular and some irregular verbs, also the past/conditional copular form)

Etymology 4

From Old Irish do·gní.

Alternative forms

Verb

  1. (archaic, Ulster) present analytic independent of déan
Usage notes

Used with a noun or pronoun (in the standard language, , , , muid, sibh, siad, or their emphatic equivalents) as the subject.

Synonyms
  • déanann (dependent form in Ulster; independent and dependent form in Connacht and the written standard)
  • deineann (independent and dependent form in Munster)

Lakota

Adjective

  1. alive

Mandarin

Romanization

(Zhuyin ㄋㄧˊ)

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Navajo

Etymology

di- (oral) + -Ø- (3rd person subject prefix) + -Ø- (classifier) + -ní (neuter imperfective stem of root -NIID, “to say”).

Pronunciation

Verb

  1. he/she says
    Dooda, dishní! — I say no!

Usage notes

This verb is frequently used for quoted speech. To introduce quoted speech, just add the prefix á- (thus) to any of the forms of the verb. This modifies the meaning to something like "to say as follows" or "to say thus":

Asdzą́ą́ aní, Beeʼeldííl Dahsinilgóó deekai, ní. — That woman says, “we are going to Albuquerque,” she says.

This is a neuter verb that uses only the imperfective mode. Other modes are suppleted by the active verb niih, reproduced below for convenience.

Conjugation

Paradigm: Neuter imperfective (Ø), with some irregularities .

NEUTER IMP singular duoplural plural
1st person dishní diiʼní dadiiʼní
2nd person diní dohní dadohní
3rd person daaní
4th person jiní dajiní
PERFECTIVE singular duoplural plural
1st person dííniid diiʼniid dadiiʼniid
2nd person dííníniid dohniid dadohniid
3rd person dííniid dadííniid
4th person jidííniid dazhdííniid
FUTURE singular duoplural plural
1st person dideeshniił didiiʼniił dadiiʼniił
2nd person didííniił didooniił dadidooniił
3rd person didooniił dadidooniił
4th person jididooniił dazhdidooniił
ITERATIVE singular duoplural plural
1st person ńdíshʼniih ńdiiʼniih ńdadiiʼniih
2nd person ńdíʼniih ńdóhʼniih ńdadohʼniih
3rd person ńdíʼniih ńdadiʼniih
4th person nízhdíʼniih ńdazhdiʼniih
OPTATIVE singular duoplural plural
1st person dóshneʼ dooʼneʼ dadooʼneʼ
2nd person dóóneʼ doohneʼ dadoohneʼ́
3rd person dóneʼ dadóneʼ
4th person jidóneʼ dazjdóneʼ

See also


Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *nīs (compare Welsh ni), from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁ésti (is not) (compare Sanskrit (na), Latin ne, Gothic 𐌽𐌹 (ni)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /n͈ʲiː/

Particle

  1. not
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 24a38
      epur a n-anman sund.
      I do not say their names here.

Usage notes

Followed by the dependent form of the verb, which (in Old Irish) is not subjected to nasalization or lenition mutation unless a direct object pronoun is implied. Compare:

  • Ní ben inna firu ― He does not strike the men: Here the b of ben is unmutated.
  • Ní mben ― He does not strike him: Here the b of ben is nasalized to mb.
  • Ní ben ― He does not strike it: Here the b of ben is lenited.

In Middle Irish increasingly, and in Modern Irish always, lenites the following verb.

Synonyms

Descendants

Verb

  1. is not, isn’t
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12c29
      ar formut frib-si as·biur-sa inso.
      It is not because of envy towards you that I say this.

Conjugation

Person Singular Plural
1 níta, nída nítan, nídan
2 níta, nída nítad, nídad
3 nítat, nídat