1. surely not? (expects negative) — Interrogative particle introducing questions that expect a negative answer, functioning as a rhetorical negation marker. Uniformly rendered across all languages with interrogative/doubt markers: deu 'etwa' (possibly?), fra 'est-ce que' (is it that?), spa 'acaso' (perhaps?), arb 'hal' (interrogative), heb 'ha-' (interrogative prefix), hin 'kya' (what?), kor 'seolma/hoksi' (surely not/perhaps). Used in rhetorical questions by Jesus (Matt 7:16 'do they gather grapes from thorns?'; Matt 12:23 'this is not the Son of David, is it?'; Mark 4:21 'a lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it?'), by the Samaritan woman (John 4:29 'this is not the Christ, is it?'), by opponents (John 8:22 'he will not kill himself, will he?'), and in epistolary rhetoric (2 Cor 1:17; 12:18; James 3:11). The variant English glosses 'not', 'surely not', 'perhaps', 'indeed', and 'can' all reflect the same underlying interrogative-with-negative-expectation particle, not distinct senses. 17×
AR["-أَنْ","أَ","أَلَعَلَّ","أَلَعَلِّي","أَيَّما","شَيْئاً-ما","لَعَلَّ","هَل","هَلْ","هَلْ-إذًا"]·ben["কি","কি-তাহলে","না","না-কি","নিশ্চয়ই","নিশ্চয়ই-না","হয়-তবে"]·DE["etwa"]·EN["Not","Not-surely","Surely-not","can","indeed","not","not-","perhaps","surely-not"]·FR["est-ce-que"]·heb["אִם-כֵּן","הֲ","הֲ-","הֲאֵינֶנִּי","הֲיִרְצֶה","הֲשֶׁמָּא","הַ-אִם","הַאִם","לֹא","לֹא-אִם"]·HI["क्यअ","क्या","क्या-निश्चय","न-हो","नहीं"]·ID["-","Apakah","Bukan","Bukankah","Dapatkah","Mungkinkah","Tidak-mungkinkah","apakah-mungkin","jika","mungkinkah"]·IT["-","forse","mēti"]·jav["Apa","Menapa","Punapa","Punapa-bok-ménawi","kajawi","mboten","menapa","menawi","punapa"]·KO["-이냐","과연","설마","아니라면","어떤-것이","이냐","혹시"]·PT["Por-acaso","Porventura","a-não-ser-que","não-fosse","por-acaso","porventura","talvez"]·RU["Не","Не-я-ли","Неужели","Разве","Разве-","не","разве","разве-","только-не"]·ES["Acaso","acaso","alguno","no","no-sea","¿Acaso"]·SW["Je","Je-","Je-ni","Labda","je","labda"]·TR["-mı","Acaba-mı","Mı","Yoksa","acaba","den-","değil-","değil-mi-","mı-","olmazsa"]·urd["سوائے","سکتا-ہے","مگر","کیا"]
Matt 7:16, Matt 12:23, Matt 26:22, Matt 26:25, Mark 4:21, Mark 14:19, Luke 6:39, Luke 9:13, John 4:29, John 8:22, John 18:35, Acts 10:47 (+5 more)
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
Included with: μήτῐς or μή τις, ὁ, ἡ, neuter μήτῐ, genitive μήτῐνος: (τὶς) old Gr. and Cretan dialect for μηδείς, Refs 8th c.BC+; Cretan dialect dative singular μηδιμί Refs —hence __1 μήτι or μή τι, adverb, with imperative, and infinitive used imperatively, Refs 8th c.BC+: with optative to express a wish, ὄλοιντο μή τι πάντες Refs 5th c.BC+ __2 after Verbs of fear or doubt, Refs 8th c.BC+ __3 in…