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מן. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
מן, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
מן in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
מן you have here. The definition of the word
מן will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
מן, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Arabic
Preposition
מן • (min)
- Judeo-Arabic spelling of مِنْ (min, “from, of”)
c. 10th century, Saadia Gaon, Tafsir, Exodus 1:7:ובנו אסראיל אתׄמרו וסעו וכתׄרו ועטׄמו גׄדא גׄדא ואמתלי דׄלך אלבלד מנהם׃- wabanū ʔisrāʔīla ʔaṯmarū wasaʕaw wakaṯurū waʕaẓamū jiddan jiddan wamtalā ḏālika l-baladu minhum.
- And the sons of Israel were fruitful, and strove, and were numerous, and were very, very mighty, and that country was full of them.
Pronoun
מן • (man) ?
- Judeo-Arabic spelling of مَنْ (man, “who”)
c. 10th century, Saadia Gaon, Tafsir, Exodus 1:8:וקאם מלך גׄדיד עלי מצר מן לם ישאהד יוסף׃- waqāma malikun jadīdun ʕalā miṣra man lam yušāhid yūsufa.
- And a new king arose over Egypt who had not witnessed Joseph.
Aramaic
Etymology 1
Compare Hebrew מִן (min, “from”), Arabic مِن (min, “from”).
Preposition
מִן • (min)
- from
Descendants
- Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭭 (mn /az/)
Conjunction
מִן • (min)
- since, after
- because
Etymology 2
Compare Arabic مَن (man, “who”).
Alternative forms
Pronoun
מַן • (man)
- who (interrogative)
Hebrew
Etymology 1
Cognate to Aramaic מִן (min), Arabic مِنْ (min).
Preposition
מִן • (min)
- Alternative form of מִ־ (mi-).
Usage notes
- Usually only used preceding the definite article הַ־ (ha-) or as a standalone form, and in current usage is restricted to formal contexts. Otherwise מִ־ (mi-) is used.
Inflection
- מִן shares its inflected forms with מִ־ (mi-).
Further reading
Etymology 2
Uncertain. Ebers suggested it was borrowed from
Egyptian (mnw,
“a type of aromatic plant”); other scholars have suggested the Egyptian word was instead borrowed from Semitic, or that hypotheses of such a connection are unsubstantiated. The original story in the scriptures mentions that the people said "
מָן הוּא" when they first saw it, which the context suggests meant "what is it?". This may have been a
folk-etymological attempt to explain the name.
Noun
מָן • (man) m (no plural forms)
- manna
References
- Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 284–285, →ISBN
- Ebers, Georg (1872) Durch Gosen zum Sinai: Aus dem Wanderbuche und der Bibliothek, pp. 226–227
- Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1928) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, page 71
Persian
Pronoun
מן • (man)
- Judeo-Persian spelling of من (man).
1600s, Elisha ben Shmūel, translated by Dalia Yasharpour, The Prince and the Sufi: The Judeo-Persian Rendition of the Buddha Biographies, Brill, published November 9, 2020:צֿנאן גשתה וֿגִודש פיש מן כֿאר
כה פנדארם כם אז כלבסת צד באר- čenin gašte vojud-aš piš-e man xâr
ke pendâram kam az kalb ast sad bâr - His existence for me has become so base
That I view him infinitely lower than a dog.
Yiddish
Etymology
From Hebrew מָן (man).
Pronunciation
Noun
מן • (man) m
- manna