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.