Ne

Ubiqitous Japanese expression. Similiar to the Canadian "eh" or the Edwardian English, "Eh, wot"?

A Japanese sentence-particle that is basically a confirmation-seeker. Intonation gives different meanings. See also ka and yo.

A Japanese sentence particle requesting agreeance. Like a rhetorical question, this question suggests an answer, and the person listening can either accept or reject that answer.

For example, "Kyou wa atsui desu ne?" would mean "Today is hot, isn't it?" The question is asking someone to agree or disagree with whether or not it is hot.

Place

The prefix "Ne" begins many place names on the North Oregon coast. Although many fanciful interpretations are assigned to Native American Indian-derived names, the truth is more prosaic. "Ne", as a prefix, simply means "place" in the language of the Clatsop Indians of that area. It was used to refer to specific locales in the sense of "the place where we catch first salmon" or "the place where we make winter camp".

Examples of North Oregon Coast place names beginning with "Ne":
Neah-kah-nie
Necanicum
Neawana
Nehalem
Netarts
Netel

Né is the male version of née.

Just as née is used to identify a maiden name -- Alice Smith, née Jones -- né is used to identify a family name that a man previously used, but no longer does. This is almost never used, and when it is it may be missed by the listener, as English speakers pronounce both words the same: "nay".

A example of use would be "Bill Clinton, né Blythe", as Bill Clinton legally changed his name to that of his step father when he turned 15. However, one would not generally use it for a full name -- e.g., "Tiny Tim, né Herbert Butros Khaury" -- or for dead names. For example, Malcolm X changed his name to reference his unknown ancestral African surname while purposefully discarding his "white slave-master name"; "Malcolm X, né Little" would be offensive, and would presumably only ever be used as a particularly obtuse and pedantic insult.

Brevity Quest 2023

Ne (?), adv. [AS. ne. See No.]

Not; never.

[Obs.]

He never yet no villany ne said. Chaucer.

⇒ Ne was formerly used as the universal adverb of negation, and survives in certain compounds, as never (= ne ever) and none (= ne one). Other combinations, now obsolete, will be found in the Vocabulary, as nad, nam, nil. See Negative, 2.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Ne, conj. [See Ne, adv.]

Nor.

[Obs.]

Shak.

No niggard ne no fool. Chaucer.

Ne . . . ne, neither . . . nor. [Obs.]

Chaucer.

 

© Webster 1913.