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In the Japanese version of "don't drink and drive" slogan, 【乗るなら飲むな】 (also
【飲んだら乗るな】), what part of speech is the な that follows the plain verb 飲む (or 乗る
in the second variation) to form the negative imperative verb form?

At first I thought it was a conjugation, but a conjugation modifies the verb
that it attaches to, whereas 飲む and 乗る are left unmodified before the な. I am
thinking maybe it is a special usage of the な particle, but I don't discount
the possibility that it is entirely a different species.

Also, what of its origin? Did it come from abbreviation of longer clauses like
「飲む無しに(して/しろ)」 etc, or from something else?
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2011-06-28T09:33:41.020
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conjugations negation imperatives particle-な parts-of-speech
About the な part in negative imperative verb form (e.g. 飲むな)
It's the strongest, tersest form of negative. It always follows a plain form
verb. I have no idea of the origin; it's pretty old though:)

Regarding the origin, it goes back to at least the 8th century in this form:

活用語の終止形に付いて、「～するな」と禁止する意をあらわす。現代口語に継承されている。

大和道は雲隠れたりしかれども吾が振る袖をなめしと思ふ **な** （万葉集、筑紫娘子） こちふかば匂ひおこせよ梅の花あるじなしとて春を忘る **な**
（拾遺集、菅原道真）

Source: <http://www.asahi-
net.or.jp/~sg2h-ymst/yamatouta/intro/josi05.html#ab17>
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2011-06-28T13:19:29.943
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It's the [Prohibition
particle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particles#na_and_naa)

If na follows a dictionary form verb, it is a negative command ("Don't... ").
However, if used with a verb stem, it implies the opposite: "Do..."
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2011-06-28T15:46:44.530
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2011-06-30T03:33:30.063
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As others have noted, な following the plain form of a verb is the abrupt
command form for "don't [verb]". As far as the origin goes, this is the root
of modern verb ending and adjective ない "not".

Note that this negative な is decidedly **not** the same as the affirmative な
used after a verb stem in the 連用形{れんようけい} continuative form (ending in _-i_ or
_-e_ ). That な is actually an abbreviated form of なさい.

As such, the following two mean almost exactly the opposite:

  * XX たべるな
  * XX たべな

The first one means "don't eat XX", while the second means "do eat XX". Both
are command forms, with the first one more abrupt / rude than the second.
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