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  • From: Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>
  • To: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] MI- nouns
  • Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 07:14:17 +0100

(KR)

> I don’t consider these nouns to have a M- prefix, other than that brought
> about by being the piel, pual, hiphil or hophal participles, treated as
> nouns. The forms follow the grammatical rules for the conjugations of
> participles.
>
> (PP)


Karl,
Yes, a M- prefix is what you say. But I was not asking about M- prefix, but
about MI- prefix.

(KR)

> As for their meanings, they refer to people, objects, actions or places
> connected with the actions denoted by the verbs. Hence a M)HB is a lover,
> MZKYR a recorder, a type of secretary, MBW(H a flowing spring, MB+ an
> expectation, MB+) a rash utterance, MKTT a smithy for metal work, and so on.
>
> (PP)
> You bring here six words... but only one matches my question: MB+), a rash
> utterance. Here M = MI.
>
I know that you read the unpointed Tanakh as you think that massoretic
vowels may be wrong and they do not belong, strictly speaking, to the
biblical text itself but are something added and somewhat artificial.
I understand that position of yours.
But maybe you should reconsider this, Karl.
Your answer to my post shows quite clearly that you mix M-, MA- and MI- as
being all of them the same thing or, maybe, variants of the same thing.
Now, while M- and MA- are the prefixes of, respectively, the Pi'el and the
Hiph'il Participles, this is not the case of MI-
MI- (I mean mem with hiriq), indeed, is never used for participles of any
type. It is true that in some instances (Lv 14:4; Nm 7:89 and maybe in a few
others) MI- is found for Hithpa'el Participle ---> but the reason is that it
comes with verbs having dalet, tet or tav for their first root consonant and
here the usual Hithpa'el prefix MIT- changes to MI- for ear reasons.

In other words, we have to distinguish CAREFULLY between prefixes MA-, MF-,
M"-, ME-, MI-, MO- and MU-

The inner structure of MGLH, discoverer (Jb 12:22) is quite different from
that of MQNH, cattle (Gn 46:32), even both having a base lamed-he (or
lamed-yod, if one prefers)
Now, words with prefix MI- are ONLY nouns -and no more Participles used as
nouns- and that is why I put my initial question on the meaning of this
MI-.

Hearty

Pere Porta
(Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)



> > 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, *MI*ZRFX, *sunrise, east* (1Ch 5:10) or *MI*KTFB, *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 *MI*ZRFX, 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 *MI*KTFB, 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 *MI*KTFB, a writing or
> > *MI*MC),
> > 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)
> >
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>



--
Pere Porta
"Ei nekrói ouk eguéirontai, fágomen kai píomen áurion gar apothnéskomen"
(1Cor 15:32)




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