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Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon of Classical Greek
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Greek Texts484402860640125.1960640125.19
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Words With Similar Definitions
Greek1: ge 2: mên 3: alla 4: allos 5: tote
Latin1: tamen 2: sive 3: modo 4: aliquando 5: neque
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men, Particle, used partly to express certainty on the part of the speaker or writer; partly, and more commonly, to point out that the word or clause with which it stands is correlative to another word or clause that is to follow, the latter word or clause being introduced by de. A.

I. men used absolutely to express certainty, not followed by correlative de, indeed, of a truth, synonymous with mên, as appears from the Ep. and Ion. form ê men in protestations and oaths (where Att. used ê mên), kai moi omosson, ê m. moi prophrôn epesin kai chersin arêxein Hom. Il. 1.77, cf. au=Hom. Il. 14.275; ê men toi tade panta teleietai Hom. Od. 14.160, cf. Hom. Il. 24.416; touton exorkoi, ê men hoi diêkonêsein Hdt. 4.154, cf. au=Hdt. 5.93, etc.: with neg., ou men gar ti kakon basileuemen Hom. Od. 1.392, etc.; ômosa, mê men . . anaphênai au=Hom. Od. 4.254, cf. Hdt. 2.118, au=Hdt. 2.179=lr; exarnos ên, mê men apokteinai IDEM=Hdt. 3.67, cf. au=Hdt. 3.99=lr: without neg., andros men tode sêma palai katatethnêôtos Hom. Il. 7.89: also in Trag., aktê men hêde tês perirrutou chthonos Soph. Phil. 1, cf. au=Soph. Phil. 159 (anap.), ti=Soph. OC 44, Eur. Med. 676, au=Eur. Med. 1129, etc.; kai men Hom. Il. 1.269, au=Hom. Il. 9.632, etc.; oude men oude . . au=Hom. Il. 2.703, au=Hom. Il. 12.212; ge men, cf. ge I.5.



II. men folld. by de in the correlative clause or clauses, on the one hand, on the other hand; commonly in Classical Gr., less freq. in later Gr. (rare in ti=Pl. NT):

B. men before other Particles:

C. for men after other Particles, see each Particle.

D. Position of men . Like de, it usu. stands as the second word in a sentence. But when a sentence begins with words common to its subordinate clauses, men stands second in the first of these clauses, as hêde gar gunê doulê men, eirêken d' eleutheron logon Soph. Trach. 63; hoi Athênaioi etaxanto men . . , hêsuchazon de . . Thuc. 4.73, cf. au=Thuc. 4.113=lr, etc. It also attaches itself to words which mark opposition, as prôton men, tote men, egô men, even when these do not stand first: sts. however it precedes them, hôs men egô oimai Plat. Phaedrus 228b; hôs men tines ephasan Xen. Cyrop. 5.2.28. It generally stands between the Art. and Noun, or the Prep. and its Case: but if special stress is laid on the Noun, this is sts. neglected, as hoi Tegeatai men epêulisanto, Mantinês de apechôrêsan Thuc. 4.134; ana to skoteinon men . . IDEM=Thuc. 3.22; also têi sêi men eudaimoniêi, têi emeôutou de kakodaimoniêi Hdt. 1.87.