𐰤𐰏𐰇

nägü

Meaning:

what?

Details:

nägü is largely synonymous with nä “what?”, but Erdal analyses it as an old collective or plural formation via -(a)gu, originally approximately “what things?”. It subsequently became a general interrogative and indefinite pronoun meaning “what; whatever, anything”.

The form can take case suffixes and occurs in expressions such as nägü üçün “why?”, nägü üzä “with what?, by what means?” and nägül, contracted from nägü ol, “what is it?”. With a following conditional verb, it commonly means “whatever” or “any”.

Word family

𐰤𐰀 nä
- 𐰤𐰏𐰇 nägü nägü
- 𐰤𐰲𐰀 näçä näçä
- 𐰤𐰲𐰝 näçük näçük
- 𐰤𐰭 näŋ näŋ
- 𐰤𐰀 : 𐱅𐰏 nä täg

In modern languages

Select a region to see the cognate.

Language	Cognate
Turkmen	-
Turkish (Azerbaijan)	-
Turkish (Türkiye)	-
Salar	-
Gagauz	-
Crimean	-
Uyghur	-
Uzbek	-
Kazakh	-
Nogai	-
Siberian Tatar	-
Kyrgyz	-
Altai	-
Alan	-
Kumyk	-
Tatar	-
Bashkir	-
Tıva	-
Khakas	-
Sakha (Yakut, Dolgan)	-
Khalaj	-
Chuvash	-

Examples

Irıq Bitig

Translations

German:

was?

Russian:

что

Turkish (Azerbaijan):

nə? nələr?

Turkish (Türkiye):

ne? neler?

Erdal (2004) A Grammar of Old Turkic p. 211

The plural of nä appears to have been nägü, formed with the collective suffix +(A)gU; see OTWF 95. There are more instances in IrqB XXIV, U IV A42, Ht VII 1995 and Suv 610,11 and 621,4; e.g. takï nägü kütär sizlär (U I 43,7) ‘What else are you waiting for?’. nä nägü iš (U III 54,13) is ‘any sort of business’. nägü inflects for case as, e.g., nägüdä ötgürü (U II 5,14) ‘through what things’. näg(ü)lük ‘what for; to what purpose; why’ is a derivate from nägü, attested e.g. in U IV A26, Suv 612,8, KP 4,9, 30,1 and 66,6 and often elsewhere. nägük (twice Suv) apparently comes from nägü (ö)k with the emphatic particle.
Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish p. 776-777

D negü: Den. N./A. fr. ne:, and for practical purposes syn. w. it. N.o.a.b. See negülük. Türkü viii ff. (a blind colt looked for an udder on a stallion; if he is lost(?) in broad daylight) tün ortu: kanta: ne:gü:de: bolğay ol ‘where (Hend.) will he get to at midnight?’ IrkB 24: Uyğ. viii ff. Bud. oğrı tép tédü-küŋüz negü ol ‘what is it that you called a thief?’ PP 59, 4-5; ne negü iş işlegeli uğrasar ‘if he starts to do any work’ U II 23, 26; negü erser témedin ‘without saying anything’ do. 31, 50; a.o. do. 5, 14 (ötgürü:); negü üçün ‘why?’ U III 35, 26; bu etöz yeme negüke kergeklig ol ‘and what is this body needed for?’ do. 43, 27-8; o.o. U IV 10, 42 etc.; (the form negül before a gap in Hüen-ts. 108 is prob. the beginning of negülük, but in TT VI 31 v.l. it seems to be a crasis of negü: ol): Civ. (if one burns a dog’s tooth and) negüke türtser ‘rubs it on any (part of the body)’ TT VII 23, 3; negü sakınç sakınsar ‘whatever thought he has’ 28, 4; and similar o.o. w. Conditional; negü kim, negü me ‘any, anything’ are common in USp.: Xak. xi Kaş. III 215 (nü:); n.m.e.: KB negü tér ‘what (someone) says’ is very common 156, 165, etc.; negü bar ajunda biliğde küsüş ‘what is there in (this) world more desirable than wisdom?’ 260; negüke ‘why?’ 467, 583, etc.; (if the water is dirty) neğün yup arır ‘what can a man wash with to be clean?’ 2108; o.o. 583, 663 (yum-), 1069 (udık), 1394 (ek-), 3488 (ke:ŋeş-): xiii(?) At. (hear) biliğlig negü tép ayur ‘what the wise man says’ 129; (tell me) bu negüke kerek ‘what is this necessary for?’ 314: Tef. negü ‘what?’; neg/negü also occurs at the beginning of questions with no specific meaning 228: (Çağ. xv ff. nağu (sic) ne üçün ‘why?’ Vel. 390 (quotns.): nağu çıra ‘why?’ San. 321v. 14 (same quotns.), seems to be a corruption of this word).