nihil
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
nihil (countable and uncountable, plural nihils)
- (countable, law) A nihil dicit.
- (uncountable, chiefly philosophy) nothingness, nonbeing
- 1996, David Tibet, “The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)” (lyrics):
- I shall no longer believe all the visions of my youth:
They have dissolved into nihil.
- I shall no longer believe all the visions of my youth:
- 2008, Arvydas Šliogeris, Names of Nihil, page 13:
- All tales about the beginning are apt to eliminate the nothing and make being overall. […] Without Nihil the whirlpool of the beginning settles down and becomes a stagnant puddle of pure being. Nihil disappears.
- 2009, Walter Brueggemann, An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, page 143:
- That is, in the sovereign act of creation, whereby YHWH orders chaos, YHWH provisionally defeated the power of the Nihil but did not destroy or eliminate the threat of chaos.
- 1996, David Tibet, “The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)” (lyrics):
Derived terms
Related terms
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Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin nihil.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Pronoun
nihil
Related terms
Pronunciation
Pronoun
nihil
- (indefinite) The absence of anything; nothing.
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈni.hil/, [ˈni(ɦ)ɪɫ̪]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈni.kil/, [ˈniːkil]
Pronoun
nihil n sg (indeclinable, no genitive)
- (indefinite) nothing
- Nīl·ne in mentem·st? ― Cannot you think of anything?
- Nihil est. ― It's nothing/It doesn't matter.
- Nihil sub sōle novum. ― Nothing new under the sun (proverb).
- 163 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Heauton Timorumenos 1.77:
- Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
- I am a man, I consider nothing that is human alien to me.
- Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
- 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.8:
- Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas quod non ego non modo audiam sed etiam videam planeque sentiam.
- You do nothing, you plan nothing, you think of nothing which I not only do not hear, but which I do not see and know every particular of.
- Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas quod non ego non modo audiam sed etiam videam planeque sentiam.
Usage notes
- This pronoun can be used with a neuter nominative/accusative singular adjective (e.g. nihil bonum), or with the genitive singular of a second-declension neuter adjective (e.g. nihil bonī), but it is not used with the genitive singular of third-declension adjectives.
- In Latin, negation is expressed by a single negative word per clause (i.e., Latin does not have negative concord). If another negative word is present, such as nec (“nor, and not”) or numquam (“never”), the negative polarity pronoun quidquam/quicquam (“anything”) is used instead of nihil (“nothing”) unless the pronoun represents a second, logically distinct negation.
Declension
Not declined; used only in the nominative and accusative singular, singular only.
| singular | |
|---|---|
| nominative | nihil |
| genitive | — |
| dative | — |
| accusative | nihil |
| ablative | — |
| vocative | — |
The senses of the remaining cases are usually rendered with forms of nūllus + rēs, e.g. genitive nūllīus reī. The genitive nihilī and the ablative nihilō, from nihilum, have idiomatic senses.
Derived terms
Related terms
- adnihilātiō
- adnihilātor
Descendants
- → Portuguese: nicles
References
- “nihil”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “nihil”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- nihil in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- nihil in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- I cannot wait till..: nihil mihi longius est or videtur quam dum or quam ut
- nothing is more tiresome to me than..: nihil mihi longius est quam (c. Inf.)
- a wise man is in no way affected by this: hoc nihil ad sapientem pertinet
- to live a life free from all misfortune: nihil calamitatis (in vita) videre
- to afford no consolation: nihil habere consolationis
- to considerably (in no way) further the common good: multum (nihil) ad communem utilitatem afferre
- I will refuse you nothing: nihil tibi a me postulanti recusabo
- not to trouble oneself about a thing: nihil omnino curare
- there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
- to live as scrupulously moral a life as ever: nihil ex pristina virtute remittere
- to do no business with a man: nihil cum aliquo contrahere
- not to mention..: ut non (nihil) dicam de...
- but this is not to the point: sed hoc nihil (sane) ad rem
- there is something in what you say; you are more or less right: aliquid (τι) dicis (opp. nihil dicis)
- I cannot wait till..: nihil mihi longius est or videtur quam dum or quam ut
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| 0 | 1 → [a], [b], [c], [d], [e] | 10 → [a], [b], [c], [d] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal: (informal) kosong, (formal) sifar, nol, nihil | ||||
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin nihil.
Pronunciation
Numeral
nihil (Jawi spelling نيهيل)
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