Lexicon
méti: can this be? (interrog. particle expecting a neg. answer)
Original Word: μήτιPart of Speech: Particle, Interrogative
Transliteration: méti
Phonetic Spelling: (may'-tee)
Short Definition: if not, unless
Definition: if not, unless, whether at all.
HELPS word-Studies
3385 mḗti (from 3361 /mḗ, "not" and 5101 /tís, "anything") – properly, not perhaps, "no on first blush (reaction)" – while still keeping "the possibility open" to elicit the desired reaction from the listener (reader). 3385 (mḗti) then draws out an immediate "no," while still conjuring the idea, "unless . . . ".
Example: Jn 4:29: "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not (3385 /mḗti) the Christ, is it?" (NASU).
A. T. Robertson, "Is not this the Christ (3385 /mḗti) . . . " elicits "the negative answer ('this cannot be') . . . 'unless He really is the Christ!' (holding out the 'diplomatic possibility') and thus heightening their interest" (WS, 429,30).
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom
mé and the neut. of
tisDefinitioncan this be? (interrog. particle expecting a neg. answer)
NASB Translationcannot (1), cannot* (1), perhaps (1), surely (4), surely no (1), unless* (2).
