na

1. na the dental nasal (found at the beginning of words and before or after dental consonants as well as between vowels; subject to conversion into ṇa, Pāṇ. viii, 4, 1 - 39 ).

2. na ind. not, no, nor, neither, RV. (nā, x, 34, 8 ) &c. &c. (as well in simple negation as in wishing, requesting and commanding, except in prohibition before an Impv. or an augmentless aor. [ cf. 1. mā]; in successive sentences or clauses either simply repeated, e.g. Mn. iv, 34 ; or strengthened by another particle, esp. at the second place or further on in the sentence, e.g. by u [ cf. no ], uta, api, cA pi , vā, vA pi or athavā, RV. i, 170, 1 ; 151, 9 ; Nal. iii, 24 , &c.; it may even be replaced by ca, vā, apica, apivā, &c. alone, as, Mn. ii, 98 ; Nal. i, 14 , &c.; often joined with other particles, beside those mentioned above esp. with a following tu, tveva, tvevatu, ce d , q.v. , khalu, q.v. , ha [ cf. g. cA di and Pāṇ. viii, 1, 31 ] &c.; before round or collective numbers and after any numeral in the instr. or abl. it expresses deficiency, e.g. ekayānaviṃśati, not 20 by 1 i.e. 19 ŚBr. ; pañcabhirnacatvāriśatāni, 395 ib. ; with another na or an a priv. it generally forms a strong affirmation [ cf. Vām. v, 1, 9 ] e.g. ne yaM na vakzyati , she will most certainly declare, Śak. iii, 9 ; nA daRqyo 'sti , he must certainly be punished, Mn. viii, 335 ; it may also, like a, form compounds, Vām. v, 2, 13 [ cf. below])

like, as, as it were (only in Veda and later artificial language, e.g. gauronatṛṣitaḥpiba, drink like [ lit. ‘not’ i.e. ‘although not being’] a thirsty deer; in this sense it does not coalesce metrically with a following vowel).