לָא H3809
Not -- the standard Aramaic negative particle negating verbs, participles, and clauses; once used substantivally as 'nothing.'
The everyday Aramaic word for 'not,' functioning exactly like its Hebrew cognate lo throughout the Aramaic portions of Daniel and Ezra. It negates finite verbs, participles, and entire clauses in both declarative and interrogative contexts -- 'the dream has not departed from me' (Dan 2:5), 'which is not to be altered' (Dan 6:9). One remarkable passage (Dan 4:35) uses it substantivally in the construction ke-lah, 'as nothing,' declaring that all earth's inhabitants are 'as nothing' before God's sovereignty. Hindi nahi, Spanish no, French ne...pas, and German nicht all consistently render the simple negation.
1. not (Aramaic negative particle) — The standard Aramaic negative particle 'not,' used to negate verbs, participles, adjectives, and clauses in both statements and questions. Functionally equivalent to Hebrew lo and consistently rendered across languages -- Spanish no, French ne...pas, German nicht, Hindi nahi. Pervasive throughout the Aramaic sections of Ezra (4:13-16) and Daniel (2:5-10), covering 81 of 82 occurrences. 81×
AR["لا","لاَ","لَا","لَا-","لَمْ"]·ben["নয়","না","নেই","নেই-"]·DE["nicht"]·EN["does-not","fail","limit","not","not-"]·FR["ne-pas","ne...pas"]·heb["לא"]·HI["कोई","न","नहीं","नहीं-है"]·ID["bukan","tidak","tidak-ada"]·IT["non"]·jav["boten","boten-","gadhah","kangge-kawula","maringi","mboten","winates"]·KO["아니라","않다","않다-","않도록","않았다","않으면"]·PT["não"]·RU["да-не","не","не-","нет"]·ES["no"]·SW["asiyejua","haifai","haijuzu","haiku","haitakuwa","haja","hakuna","hamta","hatatii","hawatalipa","hawawezi","kipimo","kukoma","si","si-kwa","usijengwe","wasi","wasizuiliwe"]·TR["degil","değil","yok","yok-"]·urd["نہ","نہیں"]
Ezra 4:13, Ezra 4:14, Ezra 4:16, Ezra 4:21, Ezra 6:8, Ezra 6:9, Ezra 7:22, Ezra 7:24, Ezra 7:25, Ezra 7:26, Jer 10:11, Dan 2:5 (+38 more)
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. as nothing, worthless (comparative negation) — A substantival or comparative use in the construction ke-lah ('as nothing, as worthlessness'), where the negative particle takes on a quasi-nominal function denoting non-existence or utter insignificance. English 'as nothing' and Spanish 'como nada' make the comparative explicit, while German 'wie ihr' attempts a different rendering. Attested only in Dan 4:35, where all the inhabitants of the earth 'are accounted as nothing' before the Most High. 1×
AR["كَلاَ-شَيْءٍ"]·ben["শূন্য"]·DE["wie-ihr"]·EN["as-nothing"]·FR["[כלה]"]·heb["כ-אין"]·HI["ऐसे"]·ID["seperti-tidak-ada"]·IT["distruzione"]·jav["kados"]·KO["없음-같이"]·PT["como-nada"]·RU["как-ничто"]·ES["como-nada"]·SW["kama-ubatili"]·TR["hiç-gibi"]·urd["کچھ-نہیں"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
לָא (לָה †Dn 4:32) adv. not (BH לא; Aramaic of Têma, Egyptian, etc., לא; Nerab ל (Lzb 301 CookGl. 67); 𝔗 לָא; Syriac ܠܴܐ );—not Je 10:11; Dn 2:5, 9, 10, etc.; before a ptcp. (so rarely in BH, 1 b c), 2:27, 43; 3:16; 4:4, 6, 15 +, so v 32 וְכָל־דָּאְרֵי אַרְעָא כְּלָה חֲשִׁיבִין are as men not accounted of (so Bev Behrm Marti, cf. Is 53:3 𝔗 בסירין ולא חשׁיבין; > most ‘accounted as nothing,’ for…