[Fantasywriter]

I looked the word up, Mrs. D. Strong's gives the meaning as, 'Nay, rather.' Still seems like a strong rebuttal to me. Iow, as I mentioned, Jesus could have affirmed the woman, or else redirected her praise to Mary's spiritual attributes. But He doesn't. He responds, 'Nay, rather,' etc.

There is no encouragement for the veneration of Mary from the Lord Himself. Just the opposite, in fact.

[Note: if I include the Strong's link here, it won't work. I'll include it in the very next post.]

Strong's Concordance

menoun and menounge: rather, on the contrary

Original Word: μενοῦνγε Part of Speech: Particle, Disjunctive Particle Transliteration: menoun and menounge Phonetic Spelling: (men-oon'-geh) Short Definition: nay rather Definition: nay rather; indeed, truly, really.

[Fantasywriter]

Strong’s link:

http://biblehub.com/greek/3304.htm