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מִן

𐤌𐤍

min

H4480 preposition

SILEX Entry

Definition

Primary sense: indicating separation, origin, or source; used as a preposition marking movement or distinction away from, out of, or beginning from a point, often specifying physical, temporal, or conceptual source. Also conveys causal relationships, partitive sense (indicating a portion of a whole), agency, and comparative meaning when paired with adjectives.

Semantic Range

from (place, person, thing), out of, away from, among, because of, due to, by reason of, on account of, since, after, over, part of, agent (in passive voice), comparative marker ('than'), exclusion ('neither... nor...'), beginning at, from within, through

Root / Etymology

Root: מן, likely derived from a very archaic root meaning 'to separate' or 'to apportion.' The direct root meaning is mostly lost in Biblical Hebrew, but the preposition min is functionally consistent with the notion of separation, source, or derivation. Related prepositions exist in other Semitic languages (e.g., Akkadian ina as a general preposition for 'from/in'), supporting its antiquity.

Historical & Contextual Notes

מִן is one of Biblical Hebrew's most versatile and frequent prepositions, typically meaning 'from' in the sense of separation, origin, or cause. It frequently marks: 1) physical separation or motion ('from a place' e.g., Genesis 12:1); 2) partitive/selection within a group ('from among them'); 3) source/origin, whether spatial, temporal, or conceptual ('from the beginning,' 'from Abraham'); 4) causality ('because of'); 5) agent in passive constructions ('by someone'); 6) comparisons, as in 'greater than' (using min after an adjective); 7) in temporal constructs ('since,' 'from then'); 8) as an exclusionary marker ('neither... nor...'). It takes both singular and plural construct forms, especially in poetic and late biblical contexts, where forms like מִנִּי and מִנֵּי appear. English translations often flatten the term to 'from,' but context determines nuance. The term is found throughout every period of Biblical Hebrew, with little semantic shift, though poetic and later biblical texts sometimes expand its comparative, partitive, or idiomatic uses. In Qumran Hebrew and post-biblical literature, some further idiomatic expansions appeared. Distinguished from other prepositions like עַל ('on, over'), בְּ ('in, with'), and אֶל ('to, toward'), but sometimes overlaps in cases of source and agency. In later translations ('Jew' for Judean), the preposition might appear in constructs indicating ethnic or geographic origin, but in the Hebrew Bible, it retains the broader sense of source or derivation without anachronistic religious labeling.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

or מִנִּי; or מִנֵּי; (constructive plural) (Isaiah 30:11); for מֵן; properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses; above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, [idiom] neither, [idiom] nor, (out) of, over, since, [idiom] then, through, [idiom] whether, with.

Bantu Hebrew

No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been recorded for this word yet.

Root Family

מן (m-n) — separation, source, distinction, extraction, apportionment

Root מן to separate, to distinguish, to apportion, to extract
Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H4481 מִן from
H4482 מֵן from me
H4483 מְנָא from me
H4508 מִנִּי from me
H4511 מִנִּית Minnith

Word Forms

25 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2 Occurrences
H4480-15 מִן min HR from from from 622
H4480-14 מִמֶּ֑/נּוּ mimenu HR/Sp1cp from him from us from it 171
H4480-25 וּ/מִן umin HC/R and from and from and from 102
H4480-13 מִמֶּֽ/נִּי mimeni HR/Sp1cs from me from me from me 87
H4480-12 מִמֶּ֖/נָּה mimenah HR/Sp3fs from it from her from it 60
H4480-10 מִמְּ/ךָ֥ mimekha HR/Sp2ms from you from you from you 58
H4480-09 מִ/כֶּ֣ם mikem HR/Sp2mp from you from you (masculine plural) from you 38
H4480-19 מִנִּ֣י mini HR from from me from me 34
H4480-11 מִמֵּ֖/ךְ mimekhe HR/Sp2fs from you from you (feminine) from you 20
H4480-04 לְ/מִן lemin HR/R from to/from from 11

Occurrences in Scripture

1230 occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2
H4480-15 Genesis 2:6 מִן min HR from from from
H4480-15 Genesis 2:7 מִן min HR from from from
H4480-15 Genesis 2:9 מִן min HR out of from from
H4480-14 Genesis 2:17 מִמֶּ֑/נּוּ mimenu HR/Sp1cp of it from us from it
H4480-14 Genesis 2:17 מִמֶּ֖/נּוּ mimenu-2 HR/Sp1cp of it from us from it
H4480-15 Genesis 2:19 מִן min HR out of from from
H4480-15 Genesis 2:22 מִן min HR from from from
H4480-14 Genesis 3:3 מִמֶּ֔/נּוּ mimenu HR/Sp1cp of it from us from it
H4480-14 Genesis 3:5 מִמֶּ֔/נּוּ mimenu HR/Sp3ms of it from us from it
H4480-03 Genesis 3:11 הֲ/מִן hamin HTi/R have you eaten from from? from
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