μηδέ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• μηδ’ (mēd’) — apocopic

Etymology

From μή (mḗ, “not”) +‎ δέ (dé, “and, but”). Compare οὐδέ (oudé, “but not, and not”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mɛː.dé/ → /miˈðe/ → /miˈðe/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mɛː.dé/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /me̝ˈde/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /miˈðe/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /miˈðe/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /miˈðe/

Conjunction

μηδέ • (mēdé)

1. (connecting two clauses, used with the same constructions as μή (mḗ)) but not, and not, nor
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.550, (compare 4.302)
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 754, (compare The Eumenides 714, The Suppliants 409)
   • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 481
   1. (doubled, μηδέ...μηδέ, opposing the two clauses of a sentence)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.303
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Isthmian Ode 2.65
      • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 771
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 327C
      • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 255

Derived terms

• μηδέτερος (mēdéteros)

Adverb

μηδέ • (mēdé)

1. (joined with a single word or phrase) not even
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 21.375
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.710
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.58
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 569

References

• “μηδέ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μηδέ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μηδέ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μηδέ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μηδέ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “μηδέ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3366 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • even idem, page 284.
  • neither . . . nor idem, page 555.
  • not idem, page 562.