μῶν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

A contraction of μή (mḗ, “not”) with οὖν (oûn, “then”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mɔ̂ːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /mon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /mon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /mon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /mon/

Particle

μῶν • (môn) (interrogative particle, negative particle)

(like μή, in a question expecting a negative answer) but surely not? is it really so?
- 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 145d–145e:
  Σωκράτης σοφίᾳ δέ γ’ οἶμαι σοφοὶ οἱ σοφοί.
  Θεαίτητος ναί.
  Σωκράτης τοῦτο δὲ μῶν διαφέρει τι ἐπιστήμης;
  Sōkrátēs sophíāi dé g’ oîmai sophoì hoi sophoí.
  Theaítētos naí.
  Sōkrátēs toûto dè môn diaphérei ti epistḗmēs?
  Socrates: And I suppose the wise are wise by wisdom.
  Theaetetus: Yes.
  Socrates: But is this [i.e., wisdom] really any different from knowledge?
(followed by οὐ, in a question expecting a positive answer)

References

μῶν in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
μῶν in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
μῶν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- surely idem, page 842.

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