noo (Scots)

Where does "noo" come from?

The Scots word 'noo' is inherited from the Middle Scots 'now'[1]. This term traces back through Early Scots 'now' and Middle English 'nou' to the Old English 'nū', which carried meanings such as 'now', 'at present', 'at this time', 'immediately', or 'very recently'[1]. The word has ancient roots, stemming from the Proto-West Germanic '*nū'[1][2], the Proto-Germanic '*nu'[1][4], and ultimately the Proto-Indo-European '*nū', all of which signified 'now'[1][4].

Open questions

• The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form '*nū' remains an unattested basis for the Germanic terms. [1] [4]

Full etymology tree

• noo (Scots), 'now'
  • inherited now (Middle Scots)
    • inherited now (Early Scots)
      • inherited nou (Middle English), 'now'
        • inherited nu (Old English), 'now'
          • inherited *nū (Proto-West Germanic), 'now'
            • inherited *nu (Proto-Germanic), 'now'
              • inherited *nu (Proto-Indo-European), 'now'

Ancestors

• nou (Middle English)
• nu (Old English)
• *nū (Proto-West Germanic)
• *nu (Proto-Germanic)
• *nu (Proto-Indo-European)

Sources

1. noo (Scots) - Wiktionary
2. nu (Old English) - Wiktionary
3. nou (Middle English) - Wiktionary
4. nu (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
5. nū (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
6. now (Scots) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris