Greek
Doubled negatives are perfectly correct in Ancient Greek. With few exceptions, a simple negative (οὐ or μή) following another negative (e.g., οὐδείς, no one) results in an affirmation: οὐδείς οὐκ ἔπασχε τι ("No one was not suffering") means more simply "Everyone was suffering". Meanwhile, a compound negative following a negative strengthens the negation: μὴ θορυβήσῃ μηδείς ("Do not permit no one to raise an uproar") means "Let not a single one among them raise an uproar".
These constructions apply only when the negatives all refer to the same word or expression. Otherwise, the negatives simply work independently of one another: οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκοντίζειν οὐκ ἔβαλον αὐτόν means "It was not on account of their not throwing that they did not hit him", and one shouldn't blame them for not trying.
Modern Greek prefers double negation — Κανείς δεν μίλησε, "No one did not talk" — to single (here, Ουδείς μίλησε, "None talked").
Read more about this topic: Double Negative
Famous quotes containing the word greek:
“Can it be, that the Greek grammarians invented their dual number for the particular benefit of twins?”
—Herman Melville (18191891)
“Make room, Roman writers, make room for Greek writers; something greater than the Iliad is born.”
—Propertius Sextus (c. 5016 B.C.)
“What is lawful is not binding only on some and not binding on others. Lawfulness extends everywhere, through the wide-ruling air and the boundless light of the sky.”
—Empedocles 484424 B.C., Greek philosopher. The Presocratics, p. 142, ed. Philip Wheelwright, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc. (1960)