[1446.] A form nec is used rarely in old Latin in the sense of nōn: as, tū dīs nec rēctē dīcis, Pl. B. 119, thou dost abuse the gods, i.e. nōn rēctē or male dīcis. After Plautus’s time, nec for nōn occurs in a few set combinations, such as nec opīnāns, not expecting, and, from Livy on, necdum, not yet, i.e. nōndum.
[1447.] The form nē usually introduces an imperative or a subjunctive, as will be explained further on. But nē is also used in the combination nē . . . quidem, not even, not . . . either, with the emphatic word between nē and quidem: as, nē tum quidem, 1, 50, 2, not even then. nē Vorēnus quidem sēsē vāllō continet, 5, 44, 6, Vorenus did not keep inside the palisade either.
[1448.] The adjective nūllus is sometimes used, chiefly in colloquial language, for nōn or nē ([1051]): as, Philotīmus nūllus vēnit, Att. 11, 24, 4, no Philotimus has shown himself. nūllus crēduās, Pl. Tri. 606, you needn’t believe it at all.
[1449.] (2.) The negative haut or haud, not, is used principally with adjectives and adverbs, less frequently with verbs: as,
([a.]) haud mediocris vir, RP. 2, 55, no ordinary man. rem haud sānē difficilem, CM. 4, a thing not particularly hard. haud procul, CM. 15, not far. In all periods of the language often combined with quisquam, ūllus, umquam, usquam. (b.) In old Latin haud is freely used with all sorts of verbs, especially with possum. In Cicero, it occurs here and there with a few verbs, such as adsentior, errō, īgnōrō, nītor, amō, but is principally confined to sciō, in the combination haud sciō an, I don’t know but ([1782]). Caesar uses haud once only, and then in this combination.
[1450.] A shorter form, hau, occurs often in old Latin, and a few times in the classical period: as, heic est sepulcrum hau pulcrum pulcrai fēminae, CIL. I, 1007, 2, on the burial site of a woman, here is the site not sightly of a sightly dame. In Plautus it is juxtaposed with sciō, making hausciō, i.e. nesciō.
[1451.] (3.) Negation may also be intimated by such words as vix, hardly, parum, not . . . enough, not quite, minus, less, not, minimē, least of all, male, &c.
[1452.] Two negatives in the same sentence are usually equivalent to an affirmative.
Thus, with nōn first, an indefinite affirmative: as, nōn nēmō, somebody, a certain gentleman, one or another. nōn nūllus, some. nōn nihil, something, somewhat. nōn numquam, sometimes. With nōn second, a universal affirmative: as, nēmō nōn, everybody, every human being. nūllus nōn, every. nihil nōn, every thing. numquam nōn, always. nōn possum nōn cōnfitērī, Fam. 9, 14, 1, I must confess. nēmō īgnōrat, V. 2, 111, everybody knows.