LOGOI

The corpus record

ναί

nai

yea, verily

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

  • Minos 26 · 91.13/10k
  • Alcibiades 1 81 · 79/10k
  • Hippias Minor 32 · 73.46/10k
  • Hipparchus 14 · 62.11/10k
  • Theages 16 · 46.06/10k
  • Ion 17 · 42.37/10k
  • Meno 41 · 41.89/10k
  • Parmenides 50 · 32.99/10k
  • Philemon 1 · 30.49/10k
  • Sophist 47 · 29.34/10k
  • Lovers 7 · 29.28/10k
  • Gorgias 74 · 28.12/10k

Densest 12 of 76 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant — LSJ

1. ναί · nai

yea, verily, yea

yea, verily, in Hom. mostly folld. by δή, ν. δὴ ταῦτά γε πάντα . . κατὰ μοῖραν ἔειπες Il. 1.286, al.; ν. μήν Emp. 76.2; ν. μάν Theoc. 27.27; ν. μέν A.R. 2.151; ν. μέντοι Luc. Astr. 14: used alone, σὲ κρίνω, ν. σέ yea thee, S. El. 1445; ἀποκρίνασθαι ν. ἢ οὔ Arist. Top. 158a16, etc.; τὸ ε̄ οὐκ ἔστι χαρακτηριστικὸν . . , τὸ δὲ ᾱ ναί Choerob. in Theod. 2.85.

2 yea by

freq. in oaths, ν. μά yea by . . , v. μά; ν. alone, ν. τὰν Κόραν Ar. V. 1438, cf. E. Ba. 534 (lyr.); ν. τὸν Ποτιδᾶν Epich. 81; ν. τὼ σιώ X. HG 4.4.10; ν. πρὸς θεῶν ἀρήξατʼ E. Med. 1277.

II yes

in answers, yes, τοῦτʼ ἐτήτυμον; Answ. ν. A. Pers. 738 (troch.), cf. S. El. 845 (lyr.), Pl. Tht. 193a, Grg. 448b, etc.; doubled, Ar. Nu. 1468, Call. Fr. 1.56 P., Ev.Matt. 5.37.

2 yes

ν. folld. by ἀλλά, etc., to mark a qualified assent, yes, but . . , Aeschin. 3.84; ν., κατὰ σχολήν γε ἴσως· οὐ μήν . . Pl. Sph. 226e, cf. R. 415e.

2. νᾱΐ · nai

In the wild

6 of 990 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ναί (scan p. 1258; entry #4022). Root candidates: *fe-.

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