Bible Lexicons

οὐδείς —

P Alex 4.9 (iii/B.C.) (= Witkowski.2, p. 52), οὐδείς σε ἀνθρώπων μὴ ὠφειλήσηι. For a similar use of οὐθείς, cf. P Petr II. 13(19).13 (B.C. 258–3) (= Witkowski.2, p. 20) τοῦτο <δ᾽ > ἔχε τῆι δια [νοία ]ι, ὅτι οὐθέν σοι μ ̣ὴ γενηθῆι λυπηρόν, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ἐ [μοὶ ἔστ ]αι πεφροντισμένον τοῦ σε γενέσθαι ἄλυπον, ";but hold this fact in your mind, that nothing vexatious may happen to you, but that I have used every forethought to keep you free from trouble"; (Ed.). Another ex. of the neut. οὐδέν is the illiterate BGU II. 380.14 (iii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 105) οὐδὲν περισότε [ρ ]ον ἔχι σε, ";there is nothing so much the matter with you."; The stronger οὐδέν is sometimes used for οὐ : see Epict. iv. 10. 36 οὐδὲν κωλύονται ἀθλιώτατοι εἶναι καὶ δυστυχέστατοι (cited by Radermacher Gr. p. 26), and possible NT exx. in Acts 18:17 (but cf. Blass Gr. p. 104), Revelation 3:17. The usual accumulation of negatives may be noted in P Oxy VIII. 1118.11 ff. (i/ii A.D.) οὐδεν [ὸ ]ς αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ ἄλλῳ οὐδενὶ ἐξ ὑστέρου [κατ ]αλειπομένου λόγου [περ ]ι ̣̣ οὐδ ̣ε ̣[νὸς ἁπλῶς. . ,"; without any claim being left to them [debtors] or to any one else for the future in any respect. . ."; Cf. also for οὐδέν strengthening the negative, as in Mark 15:4 f., P Oxy II. 294.15 (A.D. 22) (= Selections, p. 35) where a man, whose house has been searched in his absence, writes to his brother—ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸς οὔπω οὐδὲ ἐνήλεπα (l. ἐναλήλιφα) ἕως ἀκούσω φάσιν παρὰ σοῦ περὶ ἁπάντων, ";but I am not so much as anointing myself, until I hear a report from you on all points.";

οὐθείς —

This late form of οὐδείς is usually said to occur first early in iv/B.C., but if the dating is correct, a wooden tablet, P Strass II. 125.4 κοὐθέν σοι ἐνκαλῶ, carries it back to v/iv B.C. It is predominant throughout the Ptolemaic period, but during i/A.D. οὐδείς reasserts itself, and before iii/A.D. has driven out οὐθείς. It is therefore a proof of the accuracy of our great NT Uncials that οὐθείς, by this time obsolete in general usage, should have survived in such passages as Luke 22:35, Acts 19:27, al. Cf. Proleg. p. 56 and the full details in Mayser Gr. p. 180 ff., and Thackeray Gr. i. p. 58 ff. See also for the inscrr. Thieme, p. 9. It may be added that in Cicero’s Greek quotations the form οὐθείς does not occur. It is found in Epict. Ench. xxxii. 2 καὶ τοῦτο οὐθεὶς κωλύσει. Both forms appear in Musonius—p. 30.15 οὐθενός, ib..13 οὐδέν.

One or two sporadic exx. of the form from different centuries must suffice here—P Eleph 13.4 (B.C. 223–2) (= Witkowski.2, p. 43) ὁ δὲ ἐπήινει μόνον, ἐπέταξεν δ᾽ οὐθέν, P Par 45.5 (B.C. 153) (= Witkowski.2, p. 84) ἄνευ τῶν θεῶν οὐθὲν γίνεται, P Grenf II. 36.11 (B.C. 95) οὐθὲν ἡμῖν κακὸν ἐποίησεν, and P Tebt II. 278.39 (acrostics—early i/A.D.) οὐθὲν τηλικούτωι, ";it was nothing to one like him"; (Edd.).