←
mhwˀ pron. what is it ?
1
what is it ?
Gal, JBA, LJLA
VR 208:1(1)↗ לא אנא ידע מהו‏ : I do not know what it is ; BT Ber 38a(15)↗ טרימא מהו‏ : what is טרימא? ; TgEsth2 1:2(237)↗ מהו גרגריין דאע ודוולין דיפרזל דדלו אבנא ומשקו מיא‏ : what are wooden "seeds" and iron "buckets" that drew up stones but pour out water?
(1)
is it permitted? what is the law?
Gal, JBA
PTBer 5.b:40[2]↗ מהו דייסחי‏ : is he permitted to bathe? ; PTKil 32.d:13[2]↗ מהו מיתן פריטין גו גולתה‏ : is it permitted to place coins in his cloak ... ? ; BT Ber 9a(10)↗ מהו למקרי קרית שמע האידנא‏ : is it permitted to recite the qriyat shma now?
(2)
why?
Man
GY 344:8↗ mahu ˁqum ˁsgud uˁšaba lhiia rbia kḏ hinun ṭabutai lamqablia : why should I go and bow down and worship the Great Life when it does not accept my graciousness?
2
מהו דתימא : you might say, lest you say (in raising an objection)
JBA
BT Šab 6b(4)↗ מהו דתימא, כי פליגי רבנן עליה דר׳ יהודה‏ : you might say the rabbis disagree with Rabbi Yehudah ; BT Er 55a(25)↗ מהו דתימ׳ נירבעה בריבועי עולם‏ : you might say it could be square according to the cardinal points of the world
3
mhwˀ d_, mud, amud : as much as
Man
ATS 1.2:1217 ↗ kidbit minẖ amud mṣit haqrit ukidbit : I copied of it as much as I could, I examined it closely and copied it
🔍▶
✎▶
See also s.v. mn #2 pron. It is difficult to separate this, if it is even correct to do so, from those instances where the personal pronoun is clearly just used as the copula.
Page refs. in other dictionaries: DJPA: 293bDJBA: 644Jastrow: 736Drower/Macuch: 260b, 22a

© The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon ©
Fri, 06 Nov 2026 07:05:31 -0500