ABSTRACT
I don't kno-w, we witness the first beginning of a new weakening, for in t.he pronunciation [ai d(n) nou] practically nothing is left of the original negative.
The strengthening of negatives is effected either by means of some word meaning a small thing (not a bit, not a jot, not a scrap, etc., Fr. ne ... mie, goutte, point, pas), or by means of an adverb meaning 'ever' (OE. na from ne + a = Gothic ni aiws, G. nie; E. never also sometimes loses its temporal meaning and means nothing but 'not '). Finally the strengthening addition may be ISo word meaning 'nothing' as Lat. non, E. not (a weaker form of nought) or G. nicht; in ME. I ne seye not there is a double negation.
