οὔτε

οὔτε

See also: ούτε

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• οὔτ’ (oút’) – apocopic
• οὔθ’ (oúth’) – apocopic

Etymology

From οὐ (ou, “not”) + τε (te, “and”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ǔː.te/ → /ˈu.te/ → /ˈu.te/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ǔː.te/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈu.te/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈu.te/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈu.te/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈu.te/

Adverb

οὔτε • (oúte)

1. (rare) and not
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.265
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.155
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.3
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 3.8.1
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Parasite 27
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, The Parasite 53
2. (mostly repeated) neither...nor
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.89
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.7
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.115
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.202
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.3.12
   1. (often used to distinguish a general negation by dividing it into subordinate clauses)

      οὔτ' ἐπὶ γῆς οὔτ' ὑπὸ γῆς

      oút' epì gês oút' hupò gês

      neither upon the earth nor under the earth.

1. 1. • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.199
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.450
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.4
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.488
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.203
   2. (alternating clauses with οὐδέ (oudé))
      • 6th century BC, Theognis of Megara, Elegies 537
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 1 49
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 426B
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 327D, (compare 331C)
      • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 771
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 8.563, (compare Pindar, Pythian Ode 8.119, Isthmian Ode 2.65)
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1139
      • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 19D
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laches 182B
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.207
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.5.27
   3. (may be followed by a positive clause with τε (te))
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.156, (compare Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 245)
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 11.50, (compare Sophocles, Antigone 763, Euripides, Hippolytus 302)
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.37
   4. (often, by anacoluthon, followed by some other particle)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.368
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.108
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 388E
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 6.3.16
      1. (in poetry, οὐ (ou) sometimes follows without any conjunctive particle)
         • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 479
         • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 450
         • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 972
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.138
      2. (sometimes replaced by οὐ (ou) in poetry)
         • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.566
         • 6th century BC, Theognis of Megara, Elegies 125
         • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.115
         • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.136
         • 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 588
      3. (the former οὔτε is sometimes omitted)
         • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 10.46
         • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 64
         • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 532
   5. (corresponding with μήτε (mḗte))
      • 341 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Chersonese 68

References

“οὔτε”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• “οὔτε”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “οὔτε”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• οὔτε in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• οὔτε in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “οὔτε”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3777 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.
  • neither . . . nor idem, page 555.