m-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "m" and mu-

Translingual

Prefix

m-

(SI prefix) Abbreviation of milli-.
(biology) murine; pertaining to mice

Coordinate terms

murine

h-

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with m-

English

Prefix

m-

(organic chemistry) meta-

Albanian

Prefix

m-

Alternative form of n- before labials

Basque

Etymology

Compare the expressive prefix ma-.

Prefix

m-

Non-productive expressive prefix.

Usage notes

Usually, this prefix takes the form /ma/, /mi/, /mu/, followed by a velar or coronal plosive, followed by any vowel, followed by a liquid. For example: mozkor (“drunk”), mutur (“snout, end”), makur (“crooked”).

References

“m-” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk

Egyptian

Etymology

From Proto-Afroasiatic *m- (nominal prefix).^[1]

Pronunciation

(reconstructed) IPA^(key): /ma-/, /mi-/, /mV-/

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /mɛ/
- Conventional anglicization: me-

Prefix

forms masculine abstract nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmiCCiC/
forms agent nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmaCCaC/ or /mVCˈCiCVw/ if masculine and /maCˈCaːCit/ or /mVCˈCiCwVt/ if feminine
forms instrumental nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /ˈmaCCaC/ or /mVCˈCiCVw/ if masculine and /maCˈCaːCit/ or /mVCˈCiCwVt/ if feminine
forms passive nouns from verbs, with the resulting root structure /miˈCuːCiC/ if masculine and /miˈCuCCit/ if feminine
forms nouns from other nouns with no apparent change in meaning, with the resulting root structure unchanged but for the addition of /ma-/ and the loss of final -w in masculine nouns
forms nomina loci from verbs and nouns

Alternative forms

If followed by a labial consonant, this prefix dissimilated to n- in prehistoric times.

Derived terms

Egyptian terms prefixed with m-

References

Gundacker, Roman (2011) “On the Etymology of the Egyptian Crown Name mrsw.t*: An “Irregular” Subgroup of m-Prefix Formations” in Lingua Aegyptia, volume 19, page 41–44

^ Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 1

Kamba

Alternative forms

mu-

Prefix

m-

you plural (used for conjugating verbs to the subjective or nominative case of the personal pronoun)

Northern Ndebele

Prefix

m-

him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Old Irish

Prefix

m- (class A infixed pronoun, triggers lenition)

me

Derived terms

Old Irish terms prefixed with m-

Southern Ndebele

Prefix

m-

him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Swahili

Alternative forms

(etymologies 1 to 4) mu-, mw-
(etymology 5) n-, ny-

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m- (plural wa-)

m class_(I) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, denoting mostly people
mtoto mzuri ― a nice child

mnyama mnono ― a fat animal
1. Forms the name of somebody who does something, has a certain characteristic, or is from a certain place.
  ‎m- + ‎Kenya → ‎Mkenya (“person from Kenya”)
  
  ‎m- + ‎zee (“old”) → ‎mzee (“old person”)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m- (plural mi-)

m class_(III) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, denoting mostly plants and inanimate natural things
mti mrefu ― a tall tree

mfano mzuri ― a nice example
1. Forms the name of a plant from its fruit.
  ‎m- + ‎chungwa (“orange”) → ‎mchungwa (“orange tree”)
u class_(XI) adjective agreement prefix
ulimi mrefu ― a long tongue

Etymology 3

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m-

you, 2nd person plural subject concord
Antonym: ham-
verb-initial form of -m- (“her, him; 3rd person singular (m class_(I)) object concord”)

Etymology 4

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ́-.

Prefix

m-

therein, mu class_(XVIII) subject concord
Antonym: ham-

Etymology 5

From Proto-Bantu *ǹ-, labialized before labial consonants.

Prefix

m- (plural m-)

n class_(IX/X) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, including for plurals of some u class_(XI) nouns, used before labial consonants
mvua mbaya ― bad rain

‎ubavu (“rib, side”) → ‎mbavu (“ribs, sides”)

Swazi

Prefix

m-

him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Xhosa

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-.

Prefix

m-

him, her, it; class 1 object concord.

Ye'kwana

Alternative forms

mi- (allomorph before a consonant)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [m-]

Prefix

m-

Marks a transitive verb as having a second-person agent/subject.
Marks an intransitive verb with agent-like argument as having a second-person argument/subject.

Usage notes

The form m- is used with stems that start with a vowel; mi- is used with those that start with a consonant, in which case the initial consonant is also palatalized. In practice, since all intransitive verbs to which this prefix can attach start with a vowel, mi- only appears on certain transitive verbs.

Inflection

Ye'kwana personal markers

	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		series I verb argument
	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		transitive patient	intransitive patient-like		intransitive agent-like	transitive agent
first person	ewü	y-, ∅-, ü-, u-¹						w-, wi-
first person dual inclusive	küwü	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-								k-, kii-, ki-¹
second person	amödö	ö-, öy-/ödh-, o-, oy-/odh-, a-, ay-/adh-							m-, mi-
first person dual exclusive	nña	y-/dh-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	∅-	n-, ni-
third person	tüwü	y-/dh-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	n-, ni-	n-, ni-
distant past third person	tüwü	—				kün-, kun-, kin-, ken-, küm-, kum-, kim-, kini-
coreferential/reflexive	—	t-, tü-, tu-, ti-, te-				—
reciprocal	—	—	öö-
With following vowel lengthened if in an unreduced open syllable.

	series I verb argument: transitive agent and transitive patient
first person > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
first person dual exclusive > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
second person > first person	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
second person > first person dual exclusive	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
third person > any person X …or… any person X > third person	see person X in the chart above

References

Cáceres, Natalia (2011) Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[1], Lyon, pages 180–181

Zulu

Etymology 1

Prefix

m-

Class 1 simple noun prefix; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 2

Prefix

ḿ-

him, her, it; class 1 object concord; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 3

Prefix

m-

Class 3 simple noun prefix; form of mu- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 4

Prefix

m-

Class 9 simple noun prefix; form of n- used before stems beginning with a labial consonant.

References

C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “m-”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “m-”

[1] Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 1

[1]

Person	Infixed			Suffixed
Person	Class A	Class B	Class C	Suffixed
1 sing.	m-^L	dom-^L, dam-^L		-um
2 sing.	t-^L	dot-^L, dat-^L, dut-^L, dit-^L		-ut
3 sing. m.	a-^N, e-^N	d-^N	id-^N, did-^N, d-^N	-i, -it
3 sing. f.	s-^(N)	da-		-us
3 sing. n.	a-^L, e-^L	d-^L	id-^L, did-^L, d-^L	-i, -it
1 pl.	n-	don-, dun-, dan-		-unn
2 pl.	b-	dob-, dub-, dab-		-uib
3 pl.	s-^(N)	da-		-us
^L means this form triggers lenition. ^N means this form triggers nasalization (eclipsis) ^(N) means this form triggers nasalization in some texts but not in others.

Number	Person	Independent	Subject concord		Object concord	Combined forms			Possessive
Number	Person	Independent	affirmative	negative	Object concord	na	ndi-	si-	Possessive
Singular	First	mimi	ni-	si-	-ni-	nami, na mimi	ndimi, ndiye	simi, siye	-angu
	Second	wewe	u-	hu-	-ku-	nawe, na wewe	ndiwe, ndiye	siwe, siye	-ako
	Third	yeye	a-, yu-	ha-, hayu-	-m-, -mw-, -mu-	naye, na yeye	ndiye	siye	-ake
Plural	First	sisi	tu-	hatu-	-tu-	nasi, na sisi	ndisi, ndio	sio	-etu
	Second	ninyi	m-, mw-, mu-	ham-, hamw-, hamu-	-wa-	nanyi, na ninyi	ndinyi, ndio	sinyi, sio	-enu
	Third	wao	wa-	hawa-	-wa-	nao	ndio	sio	-ao
Reflexive		—	—		-ji-	—			—
For a full table including other classes, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns.

Class	Subject concord		Object concord	Relative
Class	affirmative	negative	Object concord	Relative
m_(I)	a-, yu-	ha-, hayu-	-m-, -mw-, -mu-	-ye
wa_(II)	wa-	hawa-	-wa-	-o
m_(III)	u-	hau-	-u-	-o
mi_(IV)	i-	hai-	-i-	-yo
ji_(V)	li-	hali-	-li-	-lo
ma_(VI)	ya-	haya-	-ya-	-yo
ki_(VII)	ki-	haki-	-ki-	-cho
vi_(VIII)	vi-	havi-	-vi-	-vyo
n_(IX)	i-	hai-	-i-	-yo
n_(X)	zi-	hazi-	-zi-	-zo
u_(XI)	u-	hau-	-u-	-o
ku_(XV/XVII)	ku-	haku-	-ku-	-ko
pa_(XVI)	pa-	hapa-	-pa-	-po
mu_(XVIII)	m-, mw-, mu-	ham-, hamw-, hamu-	-mu-	-mo
For a full table including first and second person, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns.

m-

Translingual

Prefix

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

English

Prefix

See also

Albanian

Prefix

Basque

Etymology

Prefix

Usage notes

References

Egyptian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Prefix

Alternative forms

Derived terms

References

Kamba

Alternative forms

Prefix

Northern Ndebele

Prefix

Old Irish

Prefix

Derived terms

See also

Southern Ndebele

Prefix

Swahili

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

Prefix

Etymology 2

Prefix

See also

Etymology 3

Prefix

See also

Etymology 4

Prefix

See also

Etymology 5

Prefix

Swazi

Prefix

Xhosa

Etymology

Prefix

Ye'kwana

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Prefix

Usage notes

Inflection

References

Zulu

Etymology 1

Prefix

Etymology 2

Prefix

Etymology 3

Prefix

Etymology 4

Prefix

References

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