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μήν

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word μήν

Greek has two words spelled μήν: the particle “truly, indeed” and the noun “month”.[1][2]

μήν1 truly, indeed

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
700s BC Homer, Iliad

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mɛ̌ːn/[3]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmin/[3]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmin/[3]

Forms

μήν (mḗn) (discourse particle)[3] Doric and Aeolic μάν.[4][5] Homer has old μάν mostly before a vowel and μήν before a consonant.[4][5][1]

Etymology

The particle “truly” is commonly compared with the asseverative particle Sanskrit स्म (sma), but its exact relation to that form and to Greek μά (má) is unclear.[1][6] Wiktionary traces it to Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *(s)me(h₂) (“really, true”) and compares Old Irish má “if”.[3] The particle μέν (mén), with the same function, can hardly be separated from it: Beekes and Frisk take it as a weakened, shortened form, as δέ (dé) beside δή (dḗ).[1][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it strengthens a statement or a command, “truly, indeed”, and it usually stands second in its clause; the Iliad already has ἦ μήν “now surely”.[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

It combines with other particles: ἦ μήν, above all in oaths, καὶ μήν to bring in something new, ἀλλὰ μήν “yet truly”, and οὐ μήν “certainly not”.[5][4] After a negative it took an adversative force, “yet, however”, like μέντοι (méntoi), and after interrogatives τί μήν; means “well, what else?”, “of course”.[5][2] Attic used μήν, while μάν remained in Doric and Aeolic poetry.[4][5] The particle is still found in Hellenistic papyri and, with other particles, in early Christian texts.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses ἦ μήν and οὐ μάν.[5][4]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses the Aeolic form μάν.[5][4][9]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses τί μήν; after a question.[5]
  • 2nd century BC – A papyrus of 168 BC has it.[8]

Meanings

Particle

  1. Truly, indeed, strengthening a statement or command.[2][5]
  2. (ἦ μήν) Surely, above all in oaths.[5][4]
  3. (καὶ μήν) And indeed, introducing something new or deserving attention.[5]
  4. (ἀλλὰ μήν) But truly, yet.[5]
  5. (after a negative) Yet, however.[5][2]
  6. (after an interrogative, τί μήν;) Well, what else? Of course.[5]

μήν2 month

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Mycenaean (Linear B)
Inherited from
Proto-Hellenic *méns
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mɛ̌ːn/[3]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmin/[3]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmin/[3]

Forms

μήν (mḗn) m (genitive μηνός); third declension[3] Epic and Ionic nominative μείς, Doric μής, Elean μεύς, and Aeolic genitive μῆννος.[1][5][4] Mycenaean me-no, probably the genitive.[4][10]

Etymology

The month is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *méns,[3] from Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”).[3][1] The oblique cases, Aeolic genitive μῆννος (mênnos) from *mēnsos, gave a new nominative *mēns, shortened to *mens by Osthoff's law; with the loss of the nasal and lengthening of the vowel this became μείς (meís) and Doric μής (mḗs).[1][6] Attic μήν (mḗn) was made afresh from the genitive μηνός (mēnós), and Elean μεύς (meús) follows Ζηνός beside Ζεύς.[1][6][4]

Cognate with Latin mēnsis, Lithuanian mė́nuo “moon, month” and English moon and month.[1][3] It was at first the name of the moon, as μήνη (mḗnē) shows; when the expressive word σελήνη (selḗnē) took over the moon, μήν was left for the month, as in Latin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets from Knossos and Pylos have the genitive me-no, “of the month”.[10][4] In Homer it is the month, and in the Odyssey and Hesiod also the moon as seen during the month, waxing or waning.[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

Greek counted the days by the waxing and waning month, as in ἱσταμένου τοῦ μηνός “while the month is waxing” in Herodotus and μηνὸς φθίνοντος for the last days.[5] Attic prose uses κατὰ μῆνα and τοῦ μηνός “monthly, by the month” for pay and interest, and the calendar terms μὴν ἐμβόλιμος “intercalary month” and full and hollow months of 30 and 29 days.[5] By resemblance it also meant a crescent, and a crescent-shaped disc set over a statue's head (Aristophanes).[2][1] The New Testament uses it for the month in reckoning time.[8]

Medieval Greek made from the accusative μῆνα (mêna) the new nominative μήνας, and Modern Greek has μήνας (mínas).[11][12]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean period – Tablets from Knossos and Pylos have me-no, “of the month”.[10]
  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the month.[5][2][7]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions the intercalary month.[5][9]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the crescent moon.[5][1]
  • 1st century AD – Luke's Gospel counts time in months.[8]
  • Modern Greek – μήνας (mínas), a form already found in medieval Greek, means “month”.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A month, the time between successive moons.[2][5]
  2. The moon as seen during a month, waxing or waning.[2]
  3. A crescent; a crescent-shaped disc protecting a statue's head.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • μήνη (mḗnē)
  • μηνίσκος (mēnískos)
  • μηνιαῖος (mēniaîos)
  • μηνοειδής (mēnoeidḗs)
  • ἐπιμήνιος (epimḗnios)
  • ἔμμηνος (émmēnos)
  • τρίμηνος (trímēnos)
  • ἑξάμηνος (hexámēnos)
  • νουμηνία (noumēnía)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b c d 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
  9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  10. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Μήν.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BC%CE%AE%CE%BD. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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