nary

I was asked yesterday what the word 'nary' meant.
My explanation was that it's an oldish English word basically menaing 'not' 

It sounds, to me, like a word Shakespeare might have used.  As indeed he did in for instance  The Merchant of Venice (ACT V. 1. SCENE I. Belmont. The avenue to PORTIA's house) :
JESSICA :
In such a night
Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well,
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,--
And ne'er a true one

The origin seems te be from the early 1700's = alteration of 'ne'er a', short for 'never a' and is used in a fair amount of old sayings , proverbs and slang :

"Ne'er cast a clout till May be out"

In ancient Greece, as in Britain, this [May] was the month in which people went about in old clothes—a custom referred to in the proverb ‘Ne'er cast a clout ere May be out,’ meaning ‘do not put on new clothes until the unlucky month is over.’

"Ne'er a babby in the house washed"
A day where you've got nearly nathing done!


Robby Burns used it in a poem: