Interrogative Pronoun

Interrogative Pronoun
§ 7. The pron. ‏מִי‎ who? is used of persons, mas. and fem.; and ‏מָה‎ what? of things. Both are invariable for gend. and number.
(a) The pron. ‏מי‎ may be used in the three cases. Genesis 3:11 ‏מִי הִגִּיד לְךָ‎ who told thee? Genesis 24:65; Genesis 33:5, Isaiah 6:8. The gen., Genesis 24:23 ‏בַּת־מִי אַתְּ‎ whose daughter art thou? Genesis 32:18 ‏לְמִי אַתָּה‎ to whom belongest thou? 1 Samuel 12:3; 1 Samuel 24:15, Psalms 27:1-14. And acc., Isaiah 6:8 ‏אֶת־מִי אֶשְׁלַח‎ whom shall I send? 1 Samuel 28:11, 2 Kings 19:22. The acc. is always preceded by ‏את‎. Like other words ‏מי‎ may be repeated to particularise or distribute. Exodus 10:8 ‏מִי וָמִי הַהֺֽלְכִים‎ who all are they that are to go?
(b) The neut. ‏מה‎ is also used in all the cases. Genesis 31:36 ‏מַה־פִּשְׁעִי‎ what is my offence? Genesis 32:28, 2 Kings 9:18. The gen. by prep., Genesis 15:8 ‏בַּמָּה אֵדַע‎ by what shall I know? Rarely after a noun, Jeremiah 8:9 wisdom of what (what sort of w.)? Numbers 23:3. The acc., Genesis 4:10 ‏מֶה עָשִׂיתָ‎ what hast thou done? Genesis 15:2. The ‏את‎ is not used before what. In Jeremiah 23:33 ‏את־מַה־מַּשָּׂא‎ rd. ‏אַתֶּם הֵמּשׂא‎ ye are the burden.
With adj. and verbs ‏מה‎ has the sense of how. Genesis 28:17 ‏מַה־נּוֹרָא‎ how terrible! 2 Kings 4:43 ‏מָה אֶתֵּן זֶה לִפְנֵי מֵאָה אִישׁ‎ how shall I set such a thing before a hundred people? Exodus 10:26, Job 9:2, Psalms 133:1-3.
(c) The interrog. pron. strengthen themselves by ‏זֶה‎ &c. to add vividness to the question. 1 Samuel 17:55 ‏בֶּן־מִי־זֶה הַנַּעַר‎ whose son (I wonder) is the lad? 1 Samuel 10:11 ‏מַה־זֶּה הָיָה לְבֶן־קִישׁ‎ what in the world has come over the son of Kish? Genesis 3:13; Genesis 27:20, Judges 18:24, 2 Samuel 12:23, Psalms 24:8.
§ 8. In the indirect sentence the interrog. remains without change. Genesis 21:26 ‏לאֹ יָדַעְתִּי מִי עָשָׂה‎ I do not know who did it. Genesis 43:22, Judges 13:6, 1 Samuel 17:56. The interrog. are also used as indef. pron., whoever, whoso, whatever, aught. Judges 7:3 ‏יָשֺׁב‎... ‏מִי יָרֵא‎ whoever is afraid let him return. Exodus 32:26 ‏מִי לַֽיהוה אֵלַי‎ whoever is for Je., Unto me (let him come)! 2 Samuel 18:12 ‏שִׁמְרוּ מִי‎ have a care whoever ye be! Exodus 24:14, Isaiah 54:15.—1 Samuel 19:3 ‏וְרָאִיתִי מָה וְהִגַּדְתִּילָךְ‎ and if I observe aught I will tell thee. 2 Samuel 18:23 ‏וִיהִי־מָה אָרוּץ‎ be what may I will run! Numbers 23:3, Job 13:13; Job 26:7, Proverbs 9:13. In some sentences of this form, however, the strict interrog. sense is probably still to be retained. Deuteronomy 20:5, Judges 10:18; Judges 21:5, Isaiah 50:8. The form ‏מי אשׁר‎ is also used, Exodus 32:33, 2 Samuel 20:11, cf. ‏מַה־שּׁ‎ Ecclesiastes 1:9.
Rem. 1. The neut. ‏מה‎ may be used of persons if their circumstances or relations be inquired of, as 1 Samuel 29:3 what are these Hebrews? On the other hand, ‏מי‎ is used of things when the idea of a person is involved, Judges 13:17 who is thy name? (as usual in Syr.), but generally what in this case, Genesis 32:27. Micah 1:5, cf. 1 Samuel 18:18 (rd. ‏חַיִּי‎ my clan), 2 Samuel 7:18, Genesis 33:8, Judges 9:28. Some cases are peculiar, and suggest a provincial or colloquial use of ‏מי‎ for ‏מה‎; e.g. Rth_3:16 ‏מִי־אַתְּ בִּתִּי‎ with Judges 18:18 ‏מָה אַתֶּם‎, Amos 7:2, Amos 7:5 ‏מי יקום יעקב‎ how shall J. stand? Isaiah 51:19. The Mass. on Micah 6:5 states that the Orientals use ‏מי‎ for ‏מה‎.
Rem. 2. In phrases like ‏מַה־בֶּצַע‎ what profit? Genesis 37:26, the original consn. was probably What is the profit? (appos. at least is not allowable in Ar.). Psalms 30:9, Isaiah 40:18, Malachi 3:14, Psalms 89:47, Job 26:14. In a number of cases the words are separated, Jeremiah 2:5 ‏מַה־מָּֽצְאוּ בִי עָוֶל‎ what evil? and second word might be adverb. acc. 1 Samuel 26:18; 1 Samuel 20:10, 2 Samuel 19:28; 2 Samuel 24:13, 1 Kings 12:16. The similar use of ‏מי‎ is against acc, Deuteronomy 3:24; Deuteronomy 4:7, Judges 21:8, 2 Samuel 7:23, 1 Chronicles 17:21.—Son_5:9 ‏מה מִדּוֹד‎ what sort of beloved? is no evidence for gen., which cannot be the relation of the words.
Rem. 3. These uses of ‏מה‎ are to be noted. Judges 1:14 ‏מַה־לָּךְ‎ what hast thou? i.e. what ails thee? what dost thou mean, want, &c.? Genesis 21:17, 1 Samuel 11:5, Jonah 1:6.—Judges 11:12 ‏מַה־לִּי וָלָךְ‎ what have I to do with thee? 2 Samuel 16:10; 2 Samuel 19:23. 2 Kings 9:18-19 ‏מַה־לְּךָ וּלְשָׁלוֹם‎. Cf. Jeremiah 2:18, Psalms 50:16. Without and with second word, Hosea 14:8. Passages like 1 Kings 12:16, 2 Chronicles 10:16, Son_8:4, show how ‏מה‎ naturally passes over to be a negative, not. (Ar.).
Rem. 4. The expression ‏אֵי זֶה‎ is an interrog. adj. which? what? Jonah 1:8 ‏אֵי מִזֶּה עַם אַתָּה‎ of what people art thou? 2 Samuel 15:2 ‏אֵי מִזֶּה עִיר אַתָּה‎ of what city? 1 Kings 13:12; 1 Kings 22:24, 2 Kings 3:8, 2 Chronicles 18:23, Isaiah 66:1, Jeremiah 6:16, Job 38:19, Job 38:24, Ecclesiastes 11:6. The fem., Jeremiah 5:7 ‏אֵי לָזאֹת‎ for what? In many cases ‏אי זה‎ is merely where?