# πλήν
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* πλᾱ́ν (plā́n) — Doric

### Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to approach”). Cognate with πέλας (pélas), πλησίος (plēsíos), ἔμπλην (émplēn, “near, close by”) and many more in root page.
Compare the meaning and history of English besides.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plɛ̌ːn/ → /plin/ → /plin/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /plɛ̌ːn/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ple̝n/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /plin/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /plin/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /plin/

### Preposition

πλήν • (plḗn) (governs the genitive)
* except, save, besides
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 8.207
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles 74
** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 914
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 909
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.71
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.54
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 469C
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 2.4.27

### Conjunction

πλήν • (plḗn)
* except, save
** (with single words and phrases, especially when a negative precedes)
*** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1238
*** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1161
*** 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 752
*** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 414
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 125
*** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 646
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 737
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 529A
*** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 299
*** 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, Panathenaicus 19
*** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1053
*** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 118
*** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 100
*** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 125
*** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 236
*** 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 106
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.2.1
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 334B
*** 430 BCE, Euripides, Herakles' Children 231
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Minos 318E
*** 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 179
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Constitution of the Athenians 3.5
** (often joined with other particles)
*** (with εἰ (ei))
**** (followed by a verb)
***** 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 18D
***** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 177D
***** 349 BCE, Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac 18
***** 341 BCE, Demosthenes, Fourth Philippic 39
***** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 260
***** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 293
***** 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 7.3.8
***** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 554B.2
**** (with a verb omitted)
***** 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 601
***** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 4.2.21
***** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 286D
***** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption 323B.26
***** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Soul 406B
***** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Prior Analytics 43A.39
***** 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants 1.10.6
***** 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.74
***** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Soloecista 7
*** (with ἤ (ḗ))
**** 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 361
**** 411 BCE, Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 532
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.111
**** 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 42A
**** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 981A.18
*** (with οὐ (ou)) only not
**** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hiero 1.18
**** 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 45
**** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Dionysodorus 23
*** (with ὅτι (hóti)) except that, save that
**** 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1429
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.189
**** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 183A
**** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 57B
**** 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Pelopidas 4
*** (with ὅσον (hóson)) except or save so far as
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.32
**** 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.23
**** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 456A
**** 155 CE – 235 CE, Cassius Dio, Collected Works 72.19
**** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.88
**** (without a verb expressed) save so far as
***** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1509
***** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.23
***** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 670A
***** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 856D
***** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1124B.30
** (introducing a clause)
*** 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 5
*** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 41
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.8.20
*** 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 1.18.2
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.32
*** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1643
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.70
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 328E
*** (to break off and pass to another subject) only
**** 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 1.69.14
**** 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 2.17.1
**** 53 CE – 55 CE, Paul the Apostle, First Epistle to the Corinthians 11:11
**** 200 BCE – 100 BCE, Diogenes of Oenoanda, Oenoandan Inscription 8
**** 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Pericles 34
**** 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Pyrrhus 5
**** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Prometheus 20
**** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead 13.3
**** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead 20.4
**** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, A Professor of Public Speaking 24
*** (late prose)
**** 170 CE – 240 CE, Herodian, History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus 3.4.1
**** 200 CE – 400 CE, Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica 6.7

#### Derived terms

* ἔμπλην (émplēn)

#### Descendants

* Greek: πλην (plin)

### References

* “πλήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “πλήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “πλήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* πλήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* πλήν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* G4133 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. beside idem, page 75.beyond idem, page 77.but idem, page 107.except idem, page 288.failing idem, page 301.outside idem, page 583.save idem, page 735.short idem, page 768.without idem, page 984.
* Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN