CHAPTER V.

THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

[§ 297]. I, we, us, me, thou, ye.—These constitute the true personal pronouns. From he, she, and it, they differ in being destitute of gender.

These latter words are demonstrative rather than personal, so that there are in English true personal pronouns for the first two persons only.

In other languages the current pronouns of the third person are, as in English, demonstrative rather than personal.

The usual declension of the personal pronouns is exceptionable. I and me, thou and ye, stand in no etymological relations to each other. The true view of the words is, that they are not irregular but defective. I has no oblique, and me no nominative case. And so with respect to the rest.

I, in German ich, Icelandic ek, corresponds with ἐγὼ, and ego of the classical languages; ego and ἐγὼ being, like I, defective in the oblique cases.

My, as stated above, is a form originally accusative, but now used in a genitive sense.

Me.—In Anglo-Saxon this was called a dative form. The fact seems to be that both my and me grow out of an accusative form, meh, mec.

That the sound of k originally belonged to the pronouns me and thee, we learn not only from the Anglo-Saxons mec, þec, meh, þeh, but from the Icelandic mik, þik, and the German mich, dich. This accounts for the form my; since y=ey, and the sounds of y and g are allied. That both me and my can be evolved from mik, we see in the present Scandinavian languages, where, very often even in the same district, mig is pronounced both mey and mee.

We and our.—These words are not in the condition of I and me. Although the fact be obscured, they are really in an etymological relation to each other. This we infer from the alliance between the sounds of w and ou, and from the Danish forms vi (we), vor (our). It may be doubted, however, whether our be a true genitive rather than an adjectival form. In the form ours we find it playing the part, not of a case, but of an independent word. Upon this, however, too much stress cannot be laid. In Danish it takes a neuter form: vor=noster; vort=nostrum. From this I conceive that it agrees, not with the Latin genitive nostrûm, but with the adjective noster.

Us, we, our.—Even us is in an etymological relation to we. That we and our are so, has just been shown. Now in Anglo-Saxon there were two forms of our, viz., úre (=nostrûm), and user (=noster). This connects we and us through our.

From these preliminary notices we have the changes in form of the true personal pronouns, as follows:—

1st Person
1st Term. (for nominative singular).
	I. Undeclined.
2nd Term. (for the singular number).
	Acc. Me.	Gen. My.	Form in n—Mine.
3rd Term. (for the plural number).
	Nom. We.	Acc. Us.	Form in r—Our, ours.
2nd Person.
1st Term. (for the singular number).
	Nom. Thou.	Acc. Thee. Gen. Thy.	Form in n—Thine.
2nd Term. (for the plural number).
	Nom. Ye.	Acc. You.	Form in r—Your, yours.

[§ 298]. We and me have been dealt with as distinct words. But it is only for practical purposes that they can be considered to be thus separate; since the sounds of m and w are allied, and in Sanskrit the singular form ma=I is looked upon as part of the same word with vayam=we. The same is the case with the Greek με (me), and the plural form ἡμεῖς (hæmeis)=we.

You.—As far as the practice of the present mode of speech

is concerned, the word you is a nominative form; since we say you move, you are moving, you were speaking.

Why should it not be treated as such? There is no absolute reason why it should not. All that can be said is, that the historical reason and the logical reason are at variance. The Anglo-Saxon form for you was eow, for ye, ge. Neither bear any sign of case at all, so that, form for form, they are equally and indifferently nominative and accusative, as the habit of language may make them. Hence, it, perhaps, is more logical to say that a certain form (you) is used either as a nominative or accusative, than to say that the accusative case is used instead of a nominative. It is clear that you can be used instead of ye only so far as it is nominative in power.

Ye.—As far as the evidence of such expressions as get on with ye is concerned, the word ye is an accusative form. The reasons why it should or should not be treated as such are involved in the previous paragraph.

Me.—Carrying out the views just laid down, and admitting you to be a nominative, or quasi-nominative case, we may extend the reasoning to the word me, and call it also a secondary nominative; inasmuch as such phrases as it is me=it is I are common.

Now to call such expressions incorrect English is to assume the point. No one says that c'est moi is bad French, and that c'est je is good. The fact is, that the whole question is a question of degree. Has or has not the custom been sufficiently prevalent to have transferred the forms me, ye, and you from one case to another, as it is admitted to have done with the forms him and whom, once dative, but now accusative?

Observe.—That the expression it is me=it is I will not justify the use of it is him, it is her=it is he and it is she. Me, ye, you, are what may be called indifferent forms, i. e. nominative as much as accusative, and accusative as much as nominative. Him and her, on the other hand, are not indifferent. The -m and -r are respectively the signs of cases other than the nominative.

Again: the reasons which allow the form you to be

considered as a nominative plural, on the strength of its being used for ye, will not allow it to be considered a nominative singular on the strength of its being used for thou. It is submitted to the reader, that in phrases like you are speaking, &c., even when applied to a single individual, the idea is really plural; in other words, that the courtesy consists in treating one person as more than one, and addressing him as such, rather than in using a plural form in a singular sense. It is certain that, grammatically considered, you=thou is a plural, since the verb with which it agrees is plural:—you are speaking, not you art speaking.