ma’en, “to refuse,” strong’s H3985

First occurrence

And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, “No, but I will go down to the grave to my son mourning.” And his father wept for him. Gen 37:35

The primitive root

Strong’s H3985 מאן ma’en, a primitive root meaning, “to refuse.” The ancient pictographs are mem + aleph + nun.

mem מ, ם = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
nun נ, ן = the seed, thus continue, heir, son

The story being told is of the blood (mem) which passes the strength (aleph) of one generation to the next via procreation (nun). The positive spin on the root signifies firmness of character; steadfast or truthful; the negative spin on the root signifies strong-willed; refusal or stubbornness.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS