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μήν. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
μήν, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
μήν in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
μήν you have here. The definition of the word
μήν will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
μήν, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Ancient Greek
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛ̌ːn/ → /min/ → /min/
Etymology 1
From Proto-Hellenic *méns (“month”), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”), probably from *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognate with Latin mēnsis (“month”), and English moon, month.
Noun
μήν • (mḗn) m (genitive μηνός); third declension
- Attic form of μείς (meís, “month”)
Inflection
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From Proto-Indo-European *(s)me(h₂) (“really, true”). Cognate with Old Irish má (“if”), Sanskrit स्म (sma, “verily, assertive particle”).[1]
Particle
μήν • (mḗn) (discourse particle)
- used to strengthen statements: verily, surely, truly, definitely
- (after other particles)
- (ἦ μήν) absolutely
- (καὶ μήν) used to introduce something new or convey affirmation
- (αλλὰ μήν) yet truly, on the other hand
- (οὐ μήν) certainly not
- (μήτε μήν) not even
- (after interrogatives, τί μήν) of course, naturally
- (after a negative) applies an adversative force
- μέν (mén, “on the one hand; accordingly”)
References
Further reading
- “μήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “μήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “μήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- μήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- μήν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- “μήν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G3376 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- μήν in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.