Chapter CLXIII: Section IV: Derivation of the Pronouns

I. The _English_ Pronouns are all of _Saxon_ origin; but, in them, our language differs very strikingly from that of the Anglo-Saxons. The following table compares the simple personal forms:--

Eng. I, My or Me; We, Our or Us.
Mine, Ours,
Sax. Ic, Min, Me or We, Ure or Us.
Mec; User,
Eng. Thou, Thy or Thee; Ye, Your You.
Thine, or Yours,
Sax. Thu, Thin, The or Ge Eower, Eow or
Thec; Eowie.
Eng. He, His Him; They, Their or Them.
Theirs,
Sax. He, His or Him or Hi or Hira or Heom or
Hys, Hine; Hig, Heora, Hi.
Eng. She, Her or Her; They, Their or Them.
Hers, Theirs,
Sax. Heo, Hire or Hi; Hi or Hira or Heom or
Hyre, Hig, Heora, Hi.
Eng. It, Its, It; They, Their or Them.
Theirs,
Sax. Hit, His or Hit; Hi or Hira or Heom or
Hys, Hig, Heora, Hi.

Here, as in the personal pronouns of other languages, the plurals and oblique cases do not all appear to be regular derivatives from the nominative singular. Many of these pronouns, perhaps all, as well as a vast number of other words of frequent use in our language, and in that from which it chiefly comes, were very variously written by the Middle English, Old English, Semi-Saxon, and Anglo-Saxon authors. He who traces the history of our language, will meet with them under all the following forms, (or such as these would be with Saxon characters for the Saxon forms,) and perhaps in more:--

1. I, J, Y, y, i, ay, ic, che, ich, Ic;--MY, mi, min, MINE, myne, myn;--ME, mee, me, meh, mec, mech;--WE, wee, ve;--OUR or OURS, oure, ure, wer, urin, uren, urne, user, usse, usser, usses, ussum;--Us, ous, vs, uss, usic, usich, usig, usih, uz, huz.

2. THOU, thoue, thow, thowe, thu, tou, to, tu;--THY or THINE, thi, thyne, thyn, thin;--THEE, the, theh, thec;--YE, yee, yhe, ze, zee, ge, ghe;--YOUR or YOURS, youre, zour, hure, goure, yer, yower, yowyer, yorn, yourn, youre, eower;--You, youe, yow, gou, zou, ou, iu, iuh, eow, iow, geow, eowih, eowic, iowih.

3. HE, hee, hie, se;--His, hise, is, hys, ys, hyse, hus;--HIM, hine, hiene, hion, hen, hyne, hym, im;--THEY, thay, thei, the, tha, thai, thii, yai, hi, hie, heo, hig, hyg, hy;--THEIR or THEIRS, ther, theyr, theyrs, thair, thare, theora, hare, here, her, hir, hire, hira, hiora, hiera, heora, hyra;--THEM, thym, theym, thaym, thaim, thame, tham, em, hem, heom, hiom, eom, hom, him, hi, hig.

4. SHE, shee, sche, scho, sho, shoe, scæ, seo, heo, hio, hiu, hoo, hue;--HER, (possessive,) hur, hir, hire, hyr, hyre, hyra, hera;--HER, (objective,) hire, hyre, hur, hir, hi. The plural forms of this feminine pronoun are like those of the masculine _He_; but the "_Well-Wishers to Knowledge_," in their small Grammar, (erroneously, as I suppose,) make _hira_ masculine only, and _heora_ feminine only. See their _Principles of Grammar_, p. 38.

5. IT, yt, itt, hit, hyt, hytt. The possessive _Its_ is a modern derivative; _His_ or _Hys_ was formerly used in lieu of it. The plural forms of this neuter pronoun, _It_, are like those of _He_ and _She_. According to Horne Tooke, who declares _hoet_ to have been one of its ancient forms, "this pronoun was merely the past participle of the verb HAITAN, _hætan_, nominare," _to name_, and literally signifies "_the said_;" (_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 46; _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 57;) but Dr. Alexander Murray, exhibiting it in an other form, not adapted to this opinion, makes it the neuter of a declinable adjective, or pronoun, inflected from the masculine, thus: "He, heo hita, _this_"--_Hist. of Lang._, Vol. i, p. 315.

II. The relatives and interrogatives are derived from the same source, the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and have passed through similar changes, or varieties in orthography; but, the common relative pronoun of the Anglo-Saxons being like their article _the_,--or, with the three genders, _se, seo, thæt_,--and not like our _who, which_, and _what_, it is probable that the interrogative use of these words was the primitive one. They have been found in all the following forms:--

1. WHO, ho, hue, wha, hwa, hua, wua, qua, quha;--WHOSE, who's, whos, whois, whoise, wheas, quhois, quhais, quhase, hwæs;--WHOM, whome, quham, quhum, quhome, hwom, hwam, hwæm, hwæne, hwone.

2. WHICH, whiche, whyche, whilch, wych, quilch, quilk, quhilk, hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, whilk, huilic, hvilc. For the Anglo-Saxon forms, Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary gives "_hwilc, hwylc_, and _hwelc_;" but Professor Fowler's E. Grammar makes them "_huilic_ and _hvilc_."--See p. 240. _Whilk_, or _quhilk_, is a Scottish form.

3. WHAT, hwat, hwet, quhat, hwæt. This pronoun, whether relative or interrogative, is regarded by Bosworth and others as a neuter derivative from the masculine or femine [sic--KTH] _hwa_, who. It may have been thence derived, but, in modern English, it is not always of the neuter gender. See the last note on page 312.

4. THAT, Anglo-Saxon Thæt. Tooke's notion of the derivation of this word is noticed above in the section on Articles. There is no certainty of its truth; and our lexicographers make no allusion to it. W. Allen reaffirms it. See his _Gram._, p. 54.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--In the Well-Wishers' Grammar, (p. 39,) as also in L. Murray's and some others, the pronoun _Which_ is very strangely and erroneously represented as being always "of the _neuter_ gender." (See what is said of this word in the Introduction, Chap. ix, ¶ 32.) Whereas it is the relative most generally applied to _brute animals_, and, in our common version of the Bible, its application to _persons_ is peculiarly frequent. Fowler says, "In its origin it is a Compound."--_E. Gram._, p. 240. Taking its first Anglo-Saxon form to be "_Huilic_," he thinks it traceable to "_hwa_, who," or its ablative "_hwi_," and "_lie_, like."--_Ib._ If this is right, the neuter sense is not its primitive import, or any part of it.

OBS. 2.--From its various uses, the word _That_ is called sometimes a pronoun, sometimes an adjective, and sometimes a conjunction; but, in respect to derivation, it is, doubtless, one and the same. As a relative pronoun, it is of either number, and has no plural form different from the singular; as, "Blessed is the _man that_ heareth me."--_Prov._, viii, 34. "Blessed are _they that_ mourn."--_Matt._, v, 4. As an adjective, it is said by Tooke to have been formerly "applied indifferently to plural nouns and to singular; as, 'Into _that_ holy orders.'--_Dr. Martin_. 'At _that_ dayes.'--_Id. 'That_ euyll aungels the denilles.'--_Sir Tho. More_. 'This pleasure undoubtedly farre excelleth all _that_ pleasures that in this life maie be obteined.'--_Id_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, pp. 47 and 48. The introduction of the plural form _those_, must have rendered this usage bad English.