μηδείς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From μηδέ (mēdé, “and not”) + εἷς (heîs, “one”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mɛː.děːs/ → /miˈðis/ → /miˈðis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mɛː.děːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /me̝ˈdis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /miˈðis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /miˈðis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /miˈðis/

Pronoun

μηδείς • (mēdeís)

1. and not one
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.500
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 395
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 5.4.20
   • 380 BCE, Plato, Euthydemus 303C
   1. (not elided)
      • 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 37
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Cratylus 414D
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Parmenides 156C
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 245D
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 553D
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 171C
      • 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 222D
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, First Alcibiades 122A
2. nobody, naught, good for naught
   • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 918
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1114
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 234
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.3.20
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.32
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.137
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 1000
   • 424 BCE, Euripides, Hecuba 622
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.106
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 1166
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 1107
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1275
   • 424 BCE, Euripides, Hecuba 843
   • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 180A
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, A Professor of Public Speaking 2
3. (neuter, adverbial) not at all, by no means
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 72
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 344
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 280A
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 949
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 280
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1329
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, To Demonicus 16

Inflection

Number		Singular
Case/Gender		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative		μηδείς mēdeís	μηδεμῐ́ᾰ mēdemĭ́ă	μηδέν mēdén
Genitive		μηδενός mēdenós	μηδεμῐᾶς mēdemĭâs	μηδενός mēdenós
Dative		μηδενῐ́ mēdenĭ́	μηδεμῐᾷ mēdemĭâi	μηδενῐ́ mēdenĭ́
Accusative		μηδένᾰ mēdénă	μηδεμῐ́ᾰν mēdemĭ́ăn	μηδέν mēdén
Vocative		—	—	—
Notes:		This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First and third declension of μηδείς, μηδεμῐ́ᾰ, μηδέν

Plural forms such as the masculine nominative plural μηδένες (mēdénes), Ionic μηδᾰμοί (mēdămoí), and accusative plural μηδένᾰς (mēdénăs) occur rarely.

Synonyms

• οὐδείς (oudeís)

Descendants

• Greek: μηδέν (midén)

References

• “μηδείς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μηδείς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μηδείς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μηδείς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “μηδείς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3367 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • no idem, page 559.
  • nobody idem, page 559.
  • none idem, page 562.