Editing Openai/69186d20-2d14-8013-b9c6-c09000f173f6 (section)

=== Assistant: 2511132255ET ===
251113_2255ET

exec: nó “or” goes back to Proto-Celtic *nowe and is cognate with Welsh neu. Pronunciation varies a lot dialectally; /noː/ is a good baseline.

===== - nó = “or” (coordinating conjunction). - uisce nó bainne – “water or milk” =====
'' Also a particle in fixed expressions like ''nó go* “until (that)…”, where it doesn’t really have its own independent meaning.

===== From descriptive sources and dialect notes: =====
* Munster: /n̪ˠoː/
* Connacht: /n̪ˠuː/, /n̪ˠoː/, sometimes /n̪ˠaː/
* Ulster: /n̪ˠa(ː)/

So real world: anything from roughly “noː”, “nuː”, to “naː” depending on region.
For a single go-to learner form, /noː/ is a safe Standard-ish choice.

===== - Modern Irish: nó “or” =====
* Old Irish: nó, no, nú “or”
* Proto-Celtic: _nowe “or”

From the Proto-Celtic reconstruction:
'' Proto-Celtic ''nowe → Old Irish nó / nú (loss of final vowel, development of the diphthong/long vowel).
'' Brythonic branch: - Proto-Brythonic ''now → Old Welsh/Old Breton neu/nou → Modern Welsh ''neu'' “or”.

So directly parallel Celtic set:

: 

Older etymological work (Stokes etc.) tried to link this further back to a PIE root to do with “inclining, nodding, now,” but that’s more speculative and not needed for normal use.

===== - Form: nó “or” (conjunction; also a particle in nó go). =====
* Pronunciation baseline: /noː/, but /nuː/ or /naː/ regionally.
* Old Irish: nó, nú.
'' Proto-Celtic: ''nowe “or”.
'' Cognate: Welsh ''neu* “or”.