οὐ

Forms

οὐ (ou) (negative particle)^[1] Before a vowel οὐκ, and οὐχ before a rough breathing; emphatic οὐχί (tragedy, also Homer and Attic prose) and epic οὐκί.^[2][3] Accented οὔ when it stands alone.^[3] Mycenaean Greek o-u, and o-u-qe “and not”.^[4][2]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][5] Frisk calls it unexplained, and Wackernagel and Kretschmer considered a Pre-Greek origin.^[5][2] Earlier comparisons with Sanskrit उद् (ud, “up, out”) and with Latin haud (“not”) Frisk calls vain or open to objection.^[5][1]

In Beekes's view it is more probably inherited from Proto-Hellenic *oyuki,^[1] from a phrase Proto-Indo-European *ne h₂óyu kʷíd (“not ever, not on your life”), as Cowgill proposed in 1960.^[2][1] The middle word is the one in αἰών (aiṓn, “lifetime, age”); the true negative *ne lost its meaning to the word after it, as happens in other languages too.^[2] The same phrase would explain Old Armenian ոչ (očʻ, “not”) and Albanian as (“not”).^[2][1]

Homeric οὐκί (oukí), with the indefinite *kʷid (as in τίς (tís)), is then the oldest form; οὐκ (ouk) arose from it by elision, and οὐχ (oukh) by aspiration, unless it was elided from οὐχί (oukhí) with the emphatic particle *ǵʰi, as in ναίχι (naíkhi) and Avestan zi.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is already written in the Linear B tablets from Knossos and Pylos, as the negative Mycenaean Greek o-u and in o-u-qe “and not”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on οὐ negates facts and statements, while μή (mḗ) negates will, wishes, commands and suppositions: in LSJ's words, οὐ denies and μή rejects, οὐ is objective and μή subjective; the same holds for their compounds, οὐδέ (oudé) and μηδέ, οὐδείς (oudeís) and μηδείς.^[6][3] Homer has the older form οὐκί (oukí) beside οὐκ and οὐχ; the emphatic οὐχί (oukhí) is used mainly in tragedy but also in Homer and in Attic prose.^[2][5] The phrase οὐδὲ εἷς “not even one” grew into οὐδείς “nobody”, later Attic and Koine οὐθείς.^[2]

The Septuagint uses οὐ about 2,530 times, in the same function as in classical Greek.^[7] In the vernacular Greek of 1100–1669 οὐ, οὐκ, οὐκί and οὐχί still mean “not” and “no”, and οὐκ and οὐκί survive in some dialects.^[8] The usual Modern Greek word for “no”, Modern Greek όχι (óchi), comes from οὐχί through the medieval phrase ἐγὼ οὐχί “I (do) not”, which was run together and then divided again as εγ' όχι.^[9][10][1] The learned ου (ou) survives only in set phrases such as και ναι και ου “both yes and no”.^[9]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – Tablets from Knossos and Pylos write Mycenaean Greek o-u, and o-u-qe “and not”.^[4][2]
• Homer – The Iliad has οὐκί beside οὐκ, οὐχ and οὐχί, and uses οὔ φημι for “I deny” and οὐκ ἐθέλω for “I refuse”.^[2][6][3]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses οὐ μή with the aorist subjunctive for an emphatic denial.^[3][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses οὔκ alone, with the verb left out, as a reply.^[6][3][11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use ουκ (ouk), ουκί (oukí) and ουχί (oukhí) for “not” and “no”.^[8]
• Byzantine period – The phrase ἐγὼ οὐχί is reanalysed, giving ὄχι (ókhi) “no”.^[9][10][1]
• Modern Greek – όχι (óchi) is the word for “no”, and the learned ου survives in a few set phrases.^[9]

Meanings

Particle

1. Not: the negative of fact and statement, as opposed to μή (mḗ), the negative of will and thought.^[6][3]
2. Joined closely to a single word, so as to give it the opposite sense: οὔ φημι “I deny”, οὐκ ἐῶ “I prevent”, οὐκ ὀλίγοι “many”.^[6][3]
3. Negating a noun, usually with the article: “the not-doing” of something.^[3]
4. In main clauses, with the indicative or the potential optative; in epic also with a subjunctive of future sense.^[6][3]
5. In questions expecting the answer “yes”; with a second-person future indicative, a question that amounts to a command.^[3]
6. Standing alone (written οὔ) as an answer: “no”; with μά (má) and the accusative, in oaths of denial.^[3][6]
7. In dependent clauses: after verbs of saying and knowing, in causal clauses, in temporal and relative clauses without a conditional or final sense, and after ὥστε (hṓste) with the indicative: οὐκ ἔστ’ ἐραστὴς ὅστις οὐκ ἀεὶ φιλεῖ “there is no lover who does not love for ever” (Euripides, Trojan Women 1051).^[6][3]
8. οὐ μή: an emphatic denial, with the aorist subjunctive or, rarely, the future indicative, “certainly not”; in a question with the second-person future, a strong prohibition.^[3][1]

Word family

• οὐδέ (oudé)
• οὐδείς (oudeís)
• οὐδαμοῦ (oudamoû)
• οὐδαμῶς (oudamôs)
• οὔτε (oúte)
• οὔτι (oúti)
• οὐκί (oukí)
• οὐχί (oukhí)

Related words

• μή (mḗ)
• αἰών (aiṓn)
• Modern Greek όχι (óchi)

Usage notes

The combinations οὐ γὰρ ἀλλά and οὐ μὴν ἀλλά, “not but that, nevertheless”, are set phrases, treated by the CGL under γάρ (gár) and μήν (mḗn).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
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 d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge