m y
9 lemmas · 8 languages
biliteralOnly two root consonants. Typical of very old grammatical cores (pronouns, particles, body-part basics). Often reconstructed with a weak third consonant that's been lost.T Gen.3.11
Themes:water· مَاء · מַיִם·4
POS shape:noun·6pron·1pronoun·1adv·1
This root is attested across 8 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.
Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family
*m-wProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Ugaritic𐎎𐎊𐎎 𐎊— water
Canaanite
Hebrewמֵימ י— plural construct state form of מַיִם (máyim)
Phoenician𐤌𐤉𐤌 𐤉— who, what person or persons
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicמימ י— Marks a yes/no question.
Assyrian NAܡܲܝ̈ܡ ܝ— construct state of ܡ̈ܝܼܵܐ (mīyā, “water”)
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezማይמ י— water
Amharicሜይמ י— alternative form of መይ (mäy, “May”)
Tigrinyaማይמ י— water
Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.
Ugaritic
irregular reflexug · 2 lemmas- waterFrom Proto-Semitic *māy-.
- whoCognate with Hebrew מִי (mi) and Phoenician 𐤌𐤉 (my). Compare also Levantine, Egyptian and Hijazi Arabic مين (mīn, “who”).
Phoenician
irregular reflexphn · 1 lemma- who, what person or persons
Imperial Aramaic
arc · 1 lemma- Marks a yes/no question.
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
aii · 1 lemma- construct state of ܡ̈ܝܼܵܐ (mīyā, “water”)
Hebrew
he · 1 lemma- plural construct state form of מַיִם (máyim)
Ge'ez
gez · 1 lemma- waterFrom Proto-Semitic *māy- (“water”).
Amharic
am · 1 lemma- alternative form of መይ (mäy, “May”)
Tigrinya
ti · 1 lemma- waterFrom Proto-Semitic *māy- (“water”).