No, not, never, negative, nein, neither, nope, non, none, nix, nuh-uh, nil. What’s with “N” and so much negativity? Who cursed this poor letter?

The negativity all comes from the simple fact that *ne is proto–Indo-European for not.

Follow me down Wiktionary, the free dictionary, won’t you?

• no: < Old English nā, nō < Proto-Germanic *nē < PIE *ne
• not: < Middle English noght < Old English nāht ‘nothing’ < nōwiht ‘not anything < ne + āwiht ‘anything’ < Proto-German *nē aiw- wiht
• never: < Old English næfre < ne + æfre ‘ever’
• negative: < Latin negativus < negare ‘to deny’ < nē ‘not’ + aiō ‘say yes’
• nein: < Old High German ni ein ‘not one’ < Proto-Germanic *nē ainaz
• neither: < nauther (remodelled to resemble either) < Old English nawþer < nahwæþer ‘not whether… or…’ < Proto-Germanic *nē hwaþeraz
• nope: < no (ending in glottal stop, heard as labiovelar stop) < Proto-Germanic *nē
• non: < French non < Latin nōn < Old Latin noenum ‘not one’ < ne unum < PIE *ne óynos
• none: < Old English nān ‘not one’ < ne ān
• nix: < German nix < nichts ‘nothing’ < Old High German niowhit < nio wiht ‘never a being’ < Proto-German *nē aiw- wiht
• nuh-uh: merger of no and uh-huh< Proto-Germanic *nē
• nil: < Latin nil< nihil < ne hilum ‘not a trifle’