What is function of those three particles?Saint Basil the Great (Letter 234, PG.32, col.869) wrote:αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐνέργειαι αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς καταβαίνουσιν, ἡ δὲ οὐσία αὐτοῦ μένει ἀπρόσιτος.
γάρ - connects this sentence to the one before.
μέν and δέ - words that relate the two parts of the sentence. (μέν by itself - without δέ in the following phrase can be taken as an emphatic element within the phrase that is found.
All three relate units (phrases) to other phrases. These particles show the relationship between clauses.
How about the μενοῦνγε that you are asking about, does it show the relationship between clauses? In the following sentence, it is an adverb:
Breaking that up into its constituents would leave people thinking that the οὖν is showing the relationship between clauses.Romans 10:18 wrote:Ἀλλὰ λέγω, μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν; Μενοῦνγε·
That is significant in Philipians 3:8.
If οὖν is left on its own, it would be something like, "however (a structure marker) therefore (relating what he is anout to say with what precedes) indeed, I also/even consider ..." If it is combined with the μέν together, as μενοῦνγε it becomes an emphatic particle "however, most certainly (adding emphasis within the current phrase), I even consider ...".Philippians 3:7,8 wrote:Ἀλλ’ ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν χριστὸν ζημίαν. 8 Ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν (μενοῦνγε NA-UBS) καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρίου μου· δι’ ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι, ἵνα χριστὸν κερδήσω,
To take another example:
In most cases οὐδέ is a conjunction, but in combination wth -πω, as οὐδέπω, it functions as an adverb.:
It changes wordclass and changes its function in the text. In the example, γάρ and ὅτι relate phrases together, while οὐδέπω modifies what is in the phrase in which it occurs, ie ᾔδεισαν τὴν γραφήν.οὐδέπω γὰρ ᾔδεισαν τὴν γραφήν, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι.
If you went ahead with the option to arbitrarily break every particle up, you are probably going to encounter problems with incorrect word-class classifications in the syntax.