Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>]

There are in Hebrew, and of course in the Hebrew bible, many nouns that have
been formed form a three letter base to which MI- has been prefixed.
And so, MIZRFX, sunrise, east (1Ch 5:10) or MIKTFB, a writing (2Ch 21:12).
I'm doing a research about the real meaning of MI- and I'm wondering:

1. Does MI- always -or nearly always- mean "the place" where the thing
happens? This is clear for MIZRFX, the place where the sun rises, and also
for MIDBFR, wilderness (Dt 32:10) (the place where the DFBFR, the word takes
place?), MINZFR, monastery (the place where the consecration is
fulfilled)...but not for MIKTFB, a writing (and not a writing desk or a
bureau...).
2. Could we say that this prefix means too the result or effect of the root
concept being fulfilled as it is the case in MIKTFB, a writing or MIMC), a
finding?
3. If 1. and 2. are true, maybe this prefix could also be someting else? I
mean: that by prefixing this MI- to several root types a meaning other than
"place" and "result/effect" would result?
4. Would this MI- be in some way related to preposition MIN, from (or, less
probably, to pronoun MY, who)? Or it rather would be something quite
different from MIN and from MY? In this last case, what would it then be?

Pere Porta
(Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)