'non-annotating' is built from the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') + 'annotating', the -ing form of 'annotate'. 'Annotate' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'annotāre', where 'ad-'/ 'an-' meant 'to' and 'notare' meant 'to mark or note'.

'annotāre' in Latin passed into Medieval Latin as 'annotare', then through Old French (e.g., 'annoter') and Middle English forms before becoming modern English 'annotate'; the productive English prefix 'non-' was added to create compounds like 'non-annotating'.

Originally, 'annotare' meant 'to mark or make a note'; over time this developed into the modern sense 'to add explanatory notes to a text'. With the prefix 'non-', the meaning is simply the negation: 'not adding notes'.