μή

Forms

μή (mḗ) (negative particle)^[1] Elean μᾶ (mâ), in an inscription from Olympia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mḗ,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ (“prohibitive particle”), the old prohibitive negation of Indo-European.^[3][2][1]

Cognate with Sanskrit मा (mā́), Avestan mā, Old Persian mā, Old Armenian մի (mi), Tocharian A mā and Albanian mos, whose final ⟨s⟩ has been explained in different ways.^[3][2][1] Beekes takes the Albanian form from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁ kʷe.^[3] Greek built on it the negatives μηδέ (mēdé), μηδείς (mēdeís), μηκέτι (mēkéti) and μήτε (mḗte), parallel to those made on οὐ (ou).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on as the negative of prohibition, wish and fear.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Greek kept two negatives side by side: οὐ denies a fact or a statement, while μή negates what is willed, wished, feared or only thought of.^[4][6] It is therefore the negative of prohibitions, exhortations and wishes, and of most dependent clauses: purpose and conditional clauses, generalising relatives, and infinitives and participles that stand for a condition.^[4][2] After verbs of fearing it came to mean “that” or “lest”, and in questions it expects the answer “no”; this interrogative use lasted through the whole history of Greek.^[4][2]

Its uses became most numerous in the Koine.^[2] In the New Testament the rule is simplified: οὐ (ou) goes with the indicative and μή with the other moods.^[6] Coptic borrowed the particle, recorded from about AD 300.^[7]

Medieval Greek used μη and μην for prohibition, warning and fear.^[8] Modern Greek μη (mi) continues the ancient particle; the form μην (min) is medieval, made after the negative δεν (den).^[9][2] The Gospel phrase μή μου ἅπτου “do not touch me”, Latin noli me tangere, lives on in Modern Greek as a name for a touchy person and for a kind of mimosa.^[10][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it in prohibitions, wishes, oaths and final clauses.^[4][5]
• 6th century BC – An inscription from Olympia has the Elean form μᾶ (mâ).^[2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and the tragedians use the full range of constructions with μή.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament keeps μή for the moods other than the indicative and in questions expecting “no”.^[6]
• About AD 300 – Coptic texts begin to use the borrowed particle.^[7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses μη (mi) and the new form μην (min) in prohibitions and warnings.^[8][9]

Meanings

Particle

1. Not, in prohibitions, with the present imperative or the aorist subjunctive.^[4][11]
2. Not, in exhortations and in wishes, with the subjunctive, the optative or the past tenses of the indicative.^[4]
3. Not, in oaths and solemn assurances.^[4]
4. In questions, expecting the answer “no”.^[4][6]
5. In dependent clauses (purpose, condition, generalising relatives) and with infinitives and participles: not.^[4][6]
6. After verbs of fearing or in cautious statements: that, lest.^[4][1]
7. With a noun or adjective, chiefly with the article, in general phrases: “what is not”, “whoever is not”.^[4]

Word family

• μηδαμοί (mēdamoí)
• μηδέ (mēdé)
• μηδείς (mēdeís)
• μηδέποτε (mēdépote)
• μηδέτερος (mēdéteros)
• μηκέτι (mēkéti)
• μήπω (mḗpō)
• μήτι (mḗti)
• μήτις (mḗtis)
• μήτοι (mḗtoi)
• μῶν (môn)
• μηδαμοῦ (mēdamoû)
• μηδέπω (mēdépō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press