6.9 The flexible מִן: meanings

מִן occurs 7,592 times in the Bible, and can have multiple meanings

• The most direct purpose is “from” - מֵהָאָ֫רֶץ from the land
• מִן can also have comparative (think “bigger”) and superlative (think “biggest”) meanings depending on the context
  • טוֹבָה חָכְמָה מִזָּהָב = wisdom is better than gold
  • קָשָׁה הָעֲבֹדָה מֵהָאֲנָשִׁים = the work is too difficult for the men
  • עָרוּם מִכֹל חַיַּת הַשָֹּדֶה = the most clever living thing of all the field
• There is also a use called “partitive” that denotes a portion or part of something else:
  • מֵהָאֲנָשִׁים may mean “some of the men” (lit. from the men)
• Other uses: ‘because’, ‘by’, ‘without’, ‘even’, ‘namely’.

MEANING OF מִן

• This is a word that takes practice to appreciate the various nuanced meanings
• As you are starting out in Hebrew, when you see מִן, start your translation with “from…”
• However, don’t be surprised if “from” does not make sense
• For example, if our translation is something like, “good the wisdom from the gold,” we know that doesn’t make sense
  • We need to remember the comparative or superlative uses
  • “Better is wisdom than gold”