ܡܳܐܢܳܐ mʾnʾ mānā 1. robe; 2. instrument; 3. vessel; 4. mānay gawā entrails; 5. furniture; 6. boat; 7. medimnus, an Athenian measure of capacity; 8. vase for liquids; 9. t. gramm. mānay zabnā w-dūktā, adverbs of time and space
According to Lagarde, the Syr. word comes from an antecedent of NP mān vase, pot, a meaning not recorded in Steingass 1144 nor in Dihxudā, where only the meaning "household furniture" is quoted (besides "family, property; disease", etc.). The general meaning of the Ir. word seems to be "house": cf. OP māniya- household slave(s) (Kent 1953, 202), Av. nmāniia- pertaining to the house (AirWb 1094), MP mān [mʾn'] house, dwelling, mānīg [mʾnyk'] household member (CPD 53 f.): see also Weber 2003, 444 f. However, the meaning "vase" seems confirmed by a gloss in Athenaeus (11, 487c; Frisk II 170), who says that μάνης is a ποτηρίου εἶδος, in a context where many kinds of Oriental vases are mentioned; cf. OInd. māna- skin-bag (Turner 1966, no. 10044). Horn 215, s.v. mān house, notes: “die Vergleichung mit arm. aman 'Gefäss', syr. mʾn 'Gefäss' bleibt also zweifelhaft”. — Old Aram. mʾnʾy; Md. mana robe (Drower – Macuch 1963, 246). The Iranian origin of Syr. mʾnʾ, doubted by LS, is highly improbable: as Leonid Kogan (personal communication) observes, the older attestation of the word is in the Aramaic inscription of Tell Fakhriyye, which is the oldest written record in Aramaic (9th century BC) and, consequently, an Iranian origin of this term would seem virtually excluded, even if we can suppose a secondary influence of or contamination with Iranian mān in later dialects like Syriac or Mandaic, especially on account of the strong polysemy of the Syr. word. See also Koehler – Baumgartner 1995, 1732. As to the cultural connection between the meanings "robe" and "vessel" in religious contexts see Russell 2001–2002, 64 ● robe Act 22, 23; ES 1, 100B; asd 42, 9; Mt 9, 16 (Phil); instrument Gn 27, 3; asd 61, 3; MP 34, 5; St Syr 4, 79, 7; Med 176, 12; vessel Gn 24, 53; Lv 11, 33; Mt 13, 48; ER 51, 5; entrails asd 59, 1; Philox 378, 12; am 1, 237, 7; 5, 601, 7; Hipp Aph 18, 25; Joh Eph 109, 25 = MiS 348a 28; furniture Gn 31, 37; Mt 12, 29; boat Js 18, 2; medimnus Geop 10, 29; vase for liquids Med 227, 18; t. gramm. E} 14, 7 ◆ LS 373a–b: Pers.?; Lagarde GA 63, 158; Nöldeke 1892, 40 (Correkturnote); PS Comp. 247