Polysemous Particles in Ancient Greek

A Study with Special Reference to μήν and δή

Thijs, Kees

Anyone reading an Ancient Greek text will notice the abundance of pragmatic particles (e.g. ἄρα, γε, γάρ, δέ, δή, μέν, μήν, οὖν), a much-debated and challenging class of expressions. What are their semantic contributions, and how should we account for their notorious polyfunctionality? In this book, Kees Thijs provides a state of the art of modern particle theory, which he then applies to two of the most versatile Greek particles, μήν and δή. Using a diachronically oriented polysemy approach and a large-scale, varied research corpus, Thijs offers a new, unified account that significantly improves on both traditional handbooks (e.g. Denniston) and more recent particle studies.