# הֵימִין



## Flaminius

Hello HE forum,

I have just learnt a new Hebrew verb; הֵימִין.  I heard it as a command "right face" in the imperative _hamen!_ but I am not sure how to conjugate it in tenses or if they are in actual use at all.

My try:
present: manin, maminim etc.
past: hemanti, hemin, hemina etc.
future: amin, tamin?

edit: tried to build conjugation paradigms after הֶחְלִיט.

Thank you in advance,
Flam


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## origumi

This usage is rare. I think it appears only once in the Bible. In modern Hebrew it's used (as far as I remember) only in reference (implicit or explicit) to this one location, the discussion between Abraham and Lot.

Genesis 13:9
הֲלֹא כָל-הָאָרֶץ לְפָנֶיךָ, הִפָּרֶד נָא מֵעָלָי: אִם-הַשְּׂמֹאל וְאֵימִנָה, וְאִם-הַיָּמִין וְאַשְׂמְאִילָה


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## ahshav

It is used in military contexts as well, mostly in marches, and the opposite order, as well - השמאל (has'mel).


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## בעל-חלומות

I don't think it's as rare as said above. I heard it ( ואת להשמאל) more than once when getting directions from people.

You were close with the conjugation, you just omitted the yud for some reason. the root is י.מ.נ

present: maymin, mayminim etc.
past: heymanti, heymin, heymina etc.
future: aymin, taymin


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## origumi

According to Even Shoshan and to the biblical quote above, *meymin* is an alternative to *maymin*, *eymin* is an alternative to *aymin*.



בעל-חלומות said:


> I don't think it's as rare as said above.


 
True, google proves that איימין and אשמאיל are used in cases where ימין and שמאל stand as two opposites - politics, car driving, military march (as ahshav said) etc.


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## ahshav

Another example I just remember of a similar word, more commonly used is הישר - heisher - directly. In past tense, as above, it is הישיר heyshir.


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## Flaminius

בעל-חלומות said:


> You were close with the conjugation, you just omitted the yud for some reason. the root is י.מ.נ
> 
> present: maymin, mayminim etc.
> past: heymanti, heymin, heymina etc.
> future: aymin, taymin


I didn't omit it without reason.  A dictionary I trust gives הֵימִין as the third person singular masculine in preterite.  Is it not to be read _hemin_ (in other words the yud after /he/ is not to be read)?


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## origumi

Few words about the background of ימנ.

It appears exactly 3 times in the bible. One mentioned above, the other two are:

2 Samual 14:19 חֵי-נַפְשְׁךָ אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ אִם-אִשׁ לְהֵמִין וּלְהַשְׂמִיל, מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ
2 Chronicles 12:2 נֹשְׁקֵי קֶשֶׁת, מַיְמִינִים וּמַשְׂמִאלִים בָּאֲבָנִים, וּבַחִצִּים, בַּקָּשֶׁת--מֵאֲחֵי שָׁאוּל, מִבִּנְיָמִן

The Samual spelling omits both י of להימין and א of להשמאיל.

The grammatical phenomenon is: in the past most נפי"ו verbs (whose first letter is iod / waw) were like in Arabic, starting with waw. for most of them the waw became iod prior to biblical times. The transformed iod usually behaves like a vowel and therefore dipthong contraction occurs when relevant - for example in נפעל.

Yet there are five verbs in which the iod is original, thus behaves more like consonant. These are *ימנ*, ינק, ילל, ישט, יטב.

http://www.zinman.org.il/html/wbagrut/lashon.doc (I translated above few sentences from Hebrew, read the source please)
http://www.bibelkommentare.de/index.php?page=studybible&strong=H3231#H3231_0_Rechte


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## Flaminius

Thanks.  I always doubted if all roots in the format y23 were w23 in Proto-Hebrew.  So your source lists five y23 verbs as having natural <y>.

My question was, however, how come the niqudised הֵי is read [hej].  Do you mean that הֵי can be pronounced both [he] and [hej] and foreign learners can't know when to chose one over the other?


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