Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• μᾱ́ ‎(mā́) Elean

Particle

μή • ‎(mḗ)

1. not (used in clauses expressing will or thought)
   1. (with an imperative or subjunctive in negative commands)
   2. (with an optative or past indicative, expressing a negative wish)
   3. (in a question expecting a negative answer)
   4. (in dependent clauses)
   5. (with participle representing conditional clause)
2. (in warnings or statements of fear)
   1. (in independent clauses) that ... not; that
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Meno 89.c

        Σωκράτης   ... ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῦτο οὐ καλῶς ὡμολογήσαμεν.

        Socrates: But [let's hope] that we didn't agree on this incorrectly.
        or [I'm worried] that we agreed ... .

   2. (introducing indirect statement after verb of fearing or apprehension) that

Usage notes

μή is the negative of thought or wish, but οὐ ‎(ou) of objective statements of fact.

Derived terms

References

• μή in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• μή in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μή in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «μή» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• «μή» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• μή in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G3361”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • lest idem, page 485.
  • not idem, page 560.
  • provide idem, page 654.
  • refrain idem, page 685.