মুই

Bengali

Alternative forms

• মুঞি (muĩ), মঞি (moĩ), মুঁই (mũi), মইঁ (moĩ), মই (moi), মৈ (mōi) — rare

Etymology

Inherited from Old Bengali মই (maï), মঞি (mañi /⁠maĩ⁠/), from Magadhi Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae), 𑀫​𑀏𑀁 (ma​eṃ), from Sanskrit মযা (máyā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH, the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂om. Nasal variants arose in Prakrits due to conflation with the general instrumental singular suffix -𑀏𑀁 (-eṃ), from Sanskrit -এন (-ena). Cognate with Sylheti ꠝꠥꠁ (mui), Bishnupriya Manipuri মি (mi), Rohingya mui, Kamta মুই (mui), Assamese মই (moi), Odia ମୁଁ (mũ), Maithili में (mē̃), Bhojpuri में (mē̃), Awadhi मैं (ma͠i), Hindustani میں / मैं (ma͠i), Nepali म (ma), Kumaoni मैं (ma͠i), Dogri मैं (ma͠i), Punjabi ਮੈਂ (maĩ), Sindhi مَان (mā̃), Ahirani मी (mī), Marathi मी (mī), Phalura ma.

During the Apabhraṃśa period, the instrumental form of the 1st person singular pronoun became a substitute for the nominative form in most Indo-Aryan lects. In late Old Bengali, মই (maï) ultimately replaced the original nominative form হাঁউ (hā̃u). After the plural আহ্মি (ahmi /⁠amhi⁠/) (later আমি (ami)) became an honorific singular in Middle Bengali, it came to supplant মই (moi) (later মুই (mui)) in all dialects (with minor usage nowadays only in Barishal, Rangpur, and Kanthi).

Pronoun

মুই • (mui) (objective মোর (mōr), genitive মোকে (mōke))

1. (archaic, dialectal) I; the first person personal singular pronoun

   Synonym: আমি (ami)