A. factandstatement, asμήofwillandthought;οὐdenies,μήrejects;οὐis absolute,μήrelative;οὐobjective,μήsubjective. —The same differences hold for all compds. ofοὐandμή, and some examples ofοὐδέandοὐδείςare included below.—As to the Form,v.infr. G.
A. USAG E.
I. as the negative of single words,
II. as the negative of the sentence.
I. οὐadhering to single words so as to form a quasi-compd. with them:—with Verbs:οὐ δίδωμι withhold, Il. 24.296 ;οὐκ εἰῶ prevent, 2.132 , 4.55 , al.;οὐκ ἐθέλω refuse, 1.112 , 3.289 , al.;οὔ φημι deny, 7.393 , 23.668 , al. (In most of these usesμήcan replaceοὐwhen the constr. requires it, e.g. εἰ μή φησι ταῦτα ἀληθῆ εἶναι
, 300 , 6.165 , etc.:— with Adjectives: οὐκ ἀέκοντε
5.366
, 768 , al.; οὐ πολλήν
Th. 6.7
, etc.:— with Adverbs: οὐχ ἥκιστα
Id. 1.68
, etc.: rarely with Verbal Nouns (v. infr. 11.10 ).—On the use ofοὐin contrasts,v.infr. B.
II. as negativing the whole sentence,
1. οὐis freq. used alone, sts. with the ellipsis of a definite Verb,οὔκ(sc.ἀποκερῇ) , ἄν γε ἐμοὶ πείθῃ
Pl. Phd. 89b
: sts. as negativing the preceding sentence, Ar. Pax 850 , X. HG 1.7.19 : as a Particle of solemn denial freq. withμά(q. v.) and the acc.; sts. without μά, οὐ τὸν πάντων θεῶν θεὸν πρόμον Ἅλιον
S. OT 660
(lyr.), cf. 1088 (lyr.), El. 1063 (lyr.), Ant. 758 .
:ὥστε οὐwithinf.is almost invariably due to orat. obliq.,ὥστ' οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθαι(forοὐκ αἰσχύνονται) Id. 19.308 , cf. Th. 5.40 , 8.76 , Lys. 18.6 , Is. 11.27 (cj. Reiske).—Rarely not in orat. obliq., S. El. 780 , E. Ph. 1358 , Hel. 108 , D. 53.2 , 9.48 .
7. in a conditional clauseμήis necessary, except,
a. in Hom. , when theεἰclause precedes the apodosis and the verb isindic., εἰ δέ μοι οὐκ ἐπέεσς' ἐπιπείσεται
9. οὐis used with thepart., when it can be resolved into a finite sentence withοὐ, as after Verbs of knowing and showing, τὸν κατθανόνθ' ὁρῶντες οὐ τιμώμενον
E. Hec. 316
; κατενόησαν οὐ πολλοὺς τοὺς Θηβαίους ὄντας
Th. 2
.
3 ; ἔργῳ δηλώσω οὐ παραγενόμενος
Antipho 2.4.8
, etc.; or into a causal sentence, τῶν βαρβάρων οἱ πολλοὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ διεφθάρησαν νέειν οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι
b. when thepart.is used with the Art.,μήis generally used, unless there is a distinct reference to a fact, whenοὐis occasionally found, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς οὐκ οὔσης ἔτι [πόλεως] ὁρμώμενοι
;βάλλε, βάλλεfolld. byοὐ βαλεῖς ; οὐ βαλεῖς ;ib. 281 and 283 , cf. S. Ant. 885 : also with opt. andἄν, οὐκ ἂν δὴ τόνδ' ἄνδρα μάχης ἐρύσαιο( = ἔρυσαι );
Il. 5.456 ;οὐκ ἂν φράσειας( = φράσον );
S. Ph. 1222 ; but in questions introduced byοὐ δή, οὐ δή του, οὔ που, οὔ τί που, a doubt is implied of the statement involved, and an appeal is made to the hearers,οὐ δή ποθ' ἡμῖν ξυγγενὴς ἥκεις ποθέν ;surely you arenot. .? Id. El. 1202 , cf. Ph. 900 ;οὔ τί που οὗτος Ἀπόλλων. .;
Pi. P. 4.87 , cf. S. Ph. 1233 , E. IA 670 , Hel. 135 , Ion 1113 , Ar. Ra. 522 , 526 .
B. POSITION.οὐis generally put immediately before the word which it negatives, οὐκ ἐκεῖνον ἐθεώμην.—ἀλλὰ τίνα μήν ; ἔφη ὁ Τιγράνης
C. ACCUMULATION. A simple neg. (οὐorμή) is freq. repeated in composition with Prons., Advbs., or Conjs., asοὐδείςorμηδείς, οὐδέorμηδέ, οὐδαμῶςorμηδαμῶς, first in Hom. , οὔ μιν ὁί̈ομαιοὐδὲ πεπύσθαι λυγρῆς ἀγγελίης
, cf. Smp. 204a : sts. a confirmative Particle accompanies the firstοὐorοὐδέ, and the neg. is repeated with emphasis, οὐδὲ μὲν οὐδέ μ' ἔασκες
Il. 19.295
; οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ Δρύαντος υἱὸς . . δὴν ἧν
6.130
, v. οὐδέ C. 11 ; οὐ μέντοι οὐδὲ αὖ ὡς σύ μοι δοκεῖς οἴεσθαι
Pl. Prt. 332a
: so also in Trag. and Att. without any such Particle,οὐ σμικρός, οὔχ, ἁγὼν ὅδε notsmall,no, is this struggle, S. OC 587 ; θεοῖς τέθνηκεν οὗτος, οὐ κείνοισιν, οὔ
Id. Aj. 970
, cf. Ar. Ra. 28 , 1308 , X. Smp. 2.4 , Pl. R. 390c .
2. when the compd. neg. precedes and the simple neg. follows with the Verb, the opposing negs. produce an emphatic positive,οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων ἀδικῶν τίσιν οὐκ ἀποτείσειOrac. ap. Hdt. 5.56 ; γλώσσης κρυφαῖον οὐδὲν οὐ διέρχεται
S. Fr. 935
(but prob. f.l.); οὐδεὶς οὐκ ἔπασχέ τι
X. Smp. 1.9
.
3. similarly each of two simple negs. may retain its negating force, ὥσπερ οὐ διὰ πρᾳότητα καὶ ἀσχολίαν τὴν ὑμετέραν οὐ δεδωκὼς ὑμῖν δίκην
Lys. 6.34
; ἐγὼ δ' οὐκ οἶμαι . . οὐ δεῖν ὑμᾶς ἀμύνεσθαι
Id. 13.52
(similarly withμή, D. 19.77 ): sts. a combination of aμέν-clause with aδέ-clause containingοὐis negatived as a whole by a precedingοὐ, e.g. οὐ γὰρ δήπου Κτησιφῶντα μὲν δύναται διώκειν δι' ἐμέ, ἐμὲ δέ, εἴπερ ἐξελέγξειν ἐνόμιζεν, αὐτὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐγράψατο
Id. 18.13
.
D. PLEONASM OFοὐ: after Verbs of denying, doubting, and disputing, folld. byὡςorὅτιwith a finite Verb,οὐis inserted to show the neg. character of the statement, where in Engl. the neg. is not required, ὡς μὲν οὐκ ἀληθῆ ταῦτ' ἐστὶν οὐκ ἔχετ' ἀντιλέγειν
E. OMISSION OFοὐ:οὐis sts. omitted, esp. by Poets, when it may be supplied from the next clause, γῆ δ' οὐδ' ἀὴρ οὐδ' οὐρανὸς ἦν
Ar. Av. 694
; σιδήρῳ οὐδ' ἀργύρῳ χρέωνται οὐδέν
Hdt. 1.215
; ῥοδιακὴ οὖς οὐδὲ πυθμένα οὐκ ἔχουσα
Inscr.Délos 313a84
(iii B. C.).
F. in Poetry, ifἤstands beforeοὐ, the two sounds coalesce into one syllable, as in ἦ οὐχ
Il. 5.349
, cf. Od. 1.298 ; so, in Att. , μὴ οὐ
S. OT 283
, etc., andἐγὼ οὔτεib. 332 , ἐγὼ οὐ
Ar. Eq. 340
.—This synizesis is general in Ep. , universal in Att.
G. FORM.οὐis used before consonants (including the digamma, e.g. beforeἕθεν,οἱ, ἑ, Il. 1.114 , 2.392 , 24.214 , but not beforeὅςPossess., οὐχ ᾧ πατρί
Od. 13.265
, cf. οὐκ ἐπέεσσι
Il. 15.162
, etc.);οὐκbefore vowels with spir. lenis,οὐχbefore vowels with spir. asper; in our text of Hdt.
οὐκis used before all vowels (prob. because Hdt. had no spir. asper): the Ep. formοὐκί [ῐ] is used by Hom. mostly at the end of a clause and at the close of the verse, ὅς τ' αἴτιος ὅς τε καὶ οὐκί
Il. 15.137
; ἠὲ καὶ οὐκί
2.238
, 300 ,al.; but in the middle of a verse, 20.255 ;οὐχί [ῐ] is found twice in Hom. , Il. 15.716 , 16.762 , and is common in Trag., where it is freq. employed like οὔ emphatic (supr. B), τί δ' οὐχί ;
A. Ag. 273
, Fr. 310 ; πῶς δ' οὐχί ;
Id. Supp. 918
, Ar. Pax 1027 ; ἐμὸς μὲν οὐχί
E. IA 859
: also in Prose, Th. 1.120 ,al., 1 Ep.Cor. 5.12 , etc.: the diphthong is genuine and always writtenου(ουκ,ουδε, etc.) in early Inscrr., IG 12.10.22 , etc.; iniv B.C.rarely writtenοκ, ib. 22.1635.112 , 116 , 121 ;οὐabbreviatedο, Suid. s.v. Φιλοξένου γραμμάτιον .
H. ACCENTUATION.οὐis oxytone acc. to Hdn.Gr. 1.494 (text doubtfulin 504 ): Arist. SE 166b6 , referring to Il. 23.328
τὸ μὲν ου(i.e.οὐ
= οὒ )καταπύθεται ὄμβρῳ, saysλύουσι . . τῇ προσῳδίᾳ λέγοντες τὸ ου ὀξύτερον(i.e.οὗ), cf. 178b3 . In codd. the word is written oxytone when folld. by a pause (v. supr. B), and is usu. written without any accent in other cases.
I. οὐin connexion with other Particles will be found in alphabetical order,οὐ γάρ, οὐ μή, etc.—The corresponding forms ofμήshould be compared.
