Old English 'ne' (not) + 'ever' (in any age) — literally 'not in any lifetime,' the negation of eternity itself.
Not ever; at no time; on no occasion.
From Old English 'nǣfre,' a tight compound of 'ne' (not) + 'ǣfre' (ever, at any time). The Old English negative particle 'ne' descends directly from PIE *ne (not), the most ancient negator in the Indo-European family, attested identically or near-identically in Sanskrit 'na,' Greek 'ne-,' Latin 'ne-/non,' Celtic 'ni,' and Baltic 'ne.' The element 'ǣfre' (ever) is from Proto-Germanic *aiwaz (age, eternity, lifetime), itself from PIE *h₂eyu- (vital force, long life, eternity) — the same root that underlies Latin 'aevum' (age, eternity) and English 'ever.' So 'never' is literally 'not at any point in all eternity' — a negation magnified by invoking the entire span of time. The compound predates the Norman Conquest; Old English
'Never' is 'ne + ever' — not-ever. And 'ever' likely comes from Proto-Germanic *aiwō (age, lifetime), from PIE *h₂eyu- (life force, vitality), the same root that gave Latin 'aevum' (age) and 'aeternus' (eternal). So 'never' literally means 'not in any age, not in any lifetime' — the negation of eternity itself. 'None' follows the same pattern: 'ne + one' (not one).