intet

Intet is a word used in Danish and Norwegian that denotes negation or absence, roughly translating as "nothing" or "not any." It functions as a pronoun and, less commonly, as a determiner, typically indicating the nonexistence or non-quantity of something. In formal or literary contexts it may stand alone or precede a noun, as in expressions that emphasize absence: for example, "Intet er sikkert" (Nothing is certain) or "Intet ændrer sig" (Nothing changes).

In modern everyday language, intet is often considered archaic or formal in both Danish and Norwegian. Speakers normally prefer "ingenting" for "nothing" or "ingen" for "no one" depending on the context. Despite its diminished use in casual speech, intet remains present in poetry, religious or ceremonial texts, and certain fixed phrases such as "intet mindre" (no less) or "intet at tilføje" (nothing to add).

Etymology and history: Intet originates from older Scandinavian languages and has cognates across the North Germanic family. Its sense of negation and absence is retained in modern Danish and Norwegian primarily in formal, literary, or historical registers. Over time, the term has largely yielded to more common words in everyday speech, though it persists in particular idioms and styles.

Overall, intet is a negation word with a predominantly archaic or literary status in Danish and Norwegian, signaling absence or non-existence and serving as a linguistic ancestor to more colloquial expressions of nothingness.