מן

Arabic

Preposition

מן • (transliteration needed)

1. Judeo-Arabic spelling of مِنْ (min, “from, of”)‎‎
   • c. 10th century, Saadia Gaon, Tafsir‎^[1], 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 • (transliteration needed) ?

1. Judeo-Arabic spelling of مَنْ (man, “who”)‎‎
   • c. 10th century, Saadia Gaon, Tafsir‎^[2], 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)

1. from

Descendants

• Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭭 (mn /⁠az⁠/)

Conjunction

מִן • (min)

1. since, after
2. because

Etymology 2

Compare Arabic مَن (man, “who”).

Alternative forms

• מַאן (man)

Pronoun

מַן • (man)

1. who (interrogative)

Hebrew

Etymology 1

Cognate to Aramaic מִן (min), Arabic مِنْ (min).

Preposition

מִן • (min)

1. 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-).
• מִן undergoes full reduplication (i.e. מִן + מִן) as well as assimilation (i.e. מִ◌ּ + מִן) in becoming מִמֶּנִּי (miméni), מִמֶּנּוּ (miménu), etc.

Inflection table

base form	מִ־ (mi-), מֵ־ (me-), מִן (min)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	singular		plural
	m	f	m	f
1st person	מִמֶּנִּי (miméni)		מִמֶּנּוּ (miménu) מֵאִתָּנוּ (me'itánu)
2nd person	מִמְּךָ (mim'khá)	מִמֵּךְ (miméch)	מִכֶּם (mikém) מִמְּכֶם (mimkhém)1	מִכֶּן (mikén) מִמְּכֶן (mimkhém)1
3rd person	מִמֶּנּוּ (miménu)2 הֵימֶּנּוּ (heiménu)3	מִמֶּנָּה (miména) הֵימֶּנָּה (heiména)3	מֵהֶם (meihém)	מֵהֶן (meihén)

1. The forms ממכם and ממכן are somewhat informal.
2. The pronunciation miméno is colloquial.
3. The forms הימנו and הימנה are Mishnaic.

Further reading

• H4480 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

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)

1. manna

Descendants

• →? Ancient Greek: μάννα (mánna)
  • Greek: μάννα (mánna)
  • → Late Latin: manna
    • → Old English:
      • Middle English:
        • English: manna
    • → Italian: manna (semi-learned)
    • → Polish: manna (learned)
    • → Sicilian: manna (semi-learned)

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^[3], volume 2, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, page 71

Persian

Pronoun

מן • (man)

1. 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 1

From Hebrew מָן (man, “manna”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /man/, [mɑ̈n] (all dialects)

  Homophone: מאַן m (man, “man”)

  Rhymes: -an

Noun

מן • (man) m

1. manna; an edible substance bestowed upon the Israelites by God after The Exodus and before the Conquest of Canaan.

   השם האָט געגעבן יעדעם בן־ישׂראל מן און געבראַכט זיי צו וואַסער.

   hashem hot gegebn yedem ben-yisroel man un gebrakht zey tsu vaser.

   God gave every Israelite manna and brought them to water.

   פֿאַרגעס די בני־ישׂראל, איך בין דער מענטש וואָס דאַרפֿט מן!

   farges di bney-yisroel, ikh bin der mentsh vos darft man!

   Forget the Israelites, I’m the person who needs manna!

   גיט מיר דעם מן וואָס אונדזער גאָט האָט געשאָנקען אײַך, מײַנע חבֿרים!

   git mir dem man vos undzer got hot geshonken aykh, mayne khaveyrem!

   Give me the manna God gifted you, my friends!

Etymology 2

From Hebrew מִן (min, “from”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪn/, [mɪn] (all dialects)

  Homophone: מין m (min, “species; heretic; gender”)

  Rhymes: -ɪn

Preposition

מן • (min)

1. from

Usage notes

Used exclusively in learned borrowings from Hebrew, whereas the standard Yiddish word for “from” is פֿון (fun).

Derived terms

• אַל ישנה אָדם מן המנהג (al yesháne ódem min hamínhog, “don’t deviate from tradition”)
• אַל תּפֿרוש מן הצבור (al tifroysh min hatsiber, “do not isolate yourself from the community”)
• אבֿר־מן־החי m (éyver-min-hakháy, “portion of meat cut from a live animal which is forbidden to consume in Jewish law”)
• אין בן־דוד בא עד שתּכלה פּרוטה מן הכּיס (eyn ben-doved bo ad shetíkhle prúte min hakís, “the Messiah will not come until money no longer exists”)
• אין מבֿיאין ראַיה מן השוטים (eyn meví’in ráye min hashóytem, “don’t listen to fools”)
• בשׂר־מן־החוץ (bóser-min-hakhúts, “smuggled foreign meat”)
• דבֿר־מן־החי m (dóver-min-hakháy, “portion of meat cut from a live animal which is forbidden to consume in Jewish law”)
• דקה־מן־הדקה f (dáke-min-hadáke, “subtle things”)
• המוציא לחם מן הארץ (hamóytse lékhem min ha’érets, “blessed for eating bread”)
• הקנאה, ​​​התּאווה והכּבֿוד מוציאים את האדם מן העולם (hakíne, hatáyve vehakóved móytsem es ha’ódem min ha’óylem, “envy, lust, and ambition destroys a man”)
• ומותר האדם מן הבהמה אין (vemóyser ha’ódem min habehéyme eyn, “a man is no better than an animal”)
• טיפּה־מן־הים f (típe-min-hayám, “tiny bit”)
• יוצא־מן־הכּלל m (yóytse-min-haklál, “exception”, alternate form היוצא מן הכּלל)
• כּי תעבֿיר ממשלת זדון מן הארץ (ki sa’ávir memshéles zodóyn min ha’érets, “Yom Kippur prayer”)
• למעלה מן הקונסט (lemáyle min hakúnst, “higher than art”)
• למעלה־מן־הטבֿע (lemáyle-min-hatéve, “supernatural”)
• למעלה־מן־השׂכל (lemáyle-min-haséykhl, “incomprehensible”)
• מהדרין־מן־המהדרין pl (mehádrin-min-hamehádrin, “most stringent mitzvos”)
• מובֿחר מן־המובֿחר m (múfkher min-hamúfkher, “the best of the best”)
• מיקצת־מן־המיקצת n (míktses-min-hamíktses, “tiny bit”)
• מן ההפֿקר (min hahéfker, “wild, natural”)
• מן החוץ (min hakhúts, “foreign”)
• מן הכּוח אל הפּועל (min hakóyekh al hapóyel, “from theory to practice”, alternate form מן הכּח אל הפּועל)
• מן־הדין (min-hadín, “legal”)
• מן־החי (min-hakháy, “meat from a living being”)
• מן־המובֿחר (min-hamúfkher, “first choice”)
• מן־הסתּם (min-hastám, “probably”)
• מן־הצד (min-hatsád, “sidelined; indirectly”)
• מן־השׂפֿה־ולחוץ (min-hasófe-velakhúts, “insincere”)
• מן־השמים (min-hashomáem, “heavenly”)
  • גזירה־מן־השמים f (gezéyre-min-hashomáem, “punishment from HaShem”)
  • גזר־מן־השמים f (gzar-min-hashomáem, “punishment from HaShem”)
  • זיווג מן השמים m (zíveg min hashomáem, “ideal match”)
  • מלאך מן־השמים m (málekh min-hashomáem, “angel from Heaven”)
  • מן־השמימדיק (min-hashomáemdik, “heavenly”)
  • נס־מן־השמים m (nes-min-hashomáem, “miracle”)
• מן־התּורה (min-hatóyre, “on the basis of scripture”)
  • אָסור מן התּורה (óser min hatóyre, “forbidden by the Torah”)
• מן־לישײַ m (min-lisháy, “Lecanora”)
• מרחיק מן השׂכל זײַן (márkhek min haséykhl zayn, “to complicate”)
• עוקר־מן־השורש זײַן (óyker-min-hashóyresh zayn, “to eradicate; to violently attack”)
• פּורש־מן־הציבור m (póyresh-min-hatsíber, “recluse”)
• פּחת מן (pókhes min, “less than”)

Etymology 3

Clipping of מנחם (menakhem).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /man/, [mɑ̈n] (all dialects)

  Homophone: מאַן m (man, “man”)

  Rhymes: -an

Proper noun

מן • (man) m

1. nickname for those named מנחם (menakhem).

   מן, האָסטו דאָס געזען? דאָס פֿרעמדע ליכט אינעם הימל?

   man, hostu dos gezen? dos fremde likht inem himl?

   Menakhem, did you see that? The weird light in the sky?

   קריינדל גייט מיט מן אויס!? וועט די וועלט אויך שטאַרבן!?

   kreyndl geyt mit man oys!? vet di velt oykh shtarbn!?

   Kreyndl’s going out with Menakhem!? Is the world also going to die!?

   פֿאַרוואָס קלײַבט זיך מן צו מירני אַרויס?

   farvos klaybt zikh man tsu mirni aroys?

   Why is Menakhem moving to Mirny?