no: English has three words no, which come from quite distinct sources (although they all, of course, contain the ancient negative particle ne). No the negative reply [OE] means etymologically ‘not ever, never’. It originated as a compound of ne and ā ‘ever’ (a relative of archaic modern English aye ‘ever’, whose own negative form is nay [12]) and the resulting nā became in the 13th century no.
The history of no ‘not’ [OE] (which is now used virtually only in the expression ‘whether or no’) is almost exactly parallel: it was formed from Old English ō ‘ever’, a variant of ā. The adjective no ‘not any’ [13] is a reduced form of none, its final n originally dispensed with before consonants. => aye, nay; none
no
"negative reply," early 13c., from Old English na (adv.) "no, never, not at all," from ne "not, no" + a "ever." First element from Proto-Germanic *ne (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old High German ne, Gothic ni "not"), from PIE root *ne "no, not" (see un-). Second element from PIE *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity" (see aye (adv.)).
As an adjective meaning "not any" (c. 1200) it is reduced from Old English nan (see none), the final -n omitted first before consonants and then altogether. As a noun from c. 1300. Phrase no can do "it is not possible" is attested from 1827, a locution of English-speaking Chinese noted 19c. in China, Australia and West Coast of U.S.
We repeated our advice again and again, but got no answer but a loud horse-laugh, and their national maxim of No can do: Europe fashion no do in China. ["Reminiscences of a Voyage to and from China," in "Paxton's Horticultural Register," London, 1836]
Construction no X, no Y attested from 1530s (in no peny no pardon). No problem as an interjection of assurance first attested 1963. No way as an expression meaning "it can't be done" is attested by 1968 (no way "by no means" is from c. 1400).
实用例句
1. No matter where you go in life or how old you get, there's always something new to learn about. After all, life is full of surprises.
