Didnae

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Scots contraction meaning did not, used to negate a past action in informal Scottish speech
2. A dialect form in Scotland that means did not, as in saying someone failed to do something earlier
3. The Scottish informal way of saying did not when describing an action that was not carried out

Etymology: "Didnae" is a contraction of "did not" in Scots, the form of English spoken in Scotland. The "did" keeps its ordinary meaning, while "nae" is the Scots negative, which descends from Old Norse "nei" (meaning "no") and is closely related to the "nay" of English and the "no" in the standard language. The Scots form is shortened in the same way as "don't" or "didn't" in standard English, with the "n't" replaced by "nae" and the two words run together. Because the word is built from two plain parts, there is no separate story behind its coinage, and its date of first use is not something the source records. Its interest lies in the way Scots keeps the Norse-derived negative "nae" in everyday speech, where the standard language uses "not" or the "n't" ending.