Demonstrative.—1. The Northern plural of this is thir, which supplanted thas as thise did in the Midland. Its origin is obscure.[185]
2. The plural of that is tha(i). Distinguish from thai (they), 3rd pers. plur.
3. Yhon(e), more often an adjective, has also a substantive use in three cases only (IV. 502, 506; XIV. 280).
Relative and Interrogative.—1. The relative pronoun is that or at, never quha. At is a purely Northern form. Quhais and quham occur occasionally as oblique cases. In quhom, as in words like so, mor, etc., there is evidence of Southern influence. Quha is used as an interrogative. The simple quhilk occurs but once (XVIII. 225, see note), where E has a different reading; otherwise it is in the form the quilk that.
2. The relative in the oblique cases is often omitted: the small folk thai had thar (IX. 261). This is a marked feature of the Wallace.
Indefinite.—1. None for nane occurs only once (IX. 485); and so, too, ilkone for ilkane, rhyming with a proper name (XI. 303). Nane is used both as substantive and as adjective. As adjective it comes before a word beginning with a vowel. Before consonants and h, na or no is used. In two cases no precedes a vowel: XIII. 145; XVI. 249.
2. Othir, often = “each other,” as Thai dang on othir (X. 680).
3. The plural of man has a pronominal use = one, German “man”: as men in the Bibill seys (I. 466); men mycht se (X. 678), etc.
Verbs.
1. Note the periphrastic form with gan in E (can in a few cases), can always in C: all the land gan occupy (I. 184); all can thai cry (XII. 200). The past tense of can is couth: thar vittale all fast couth fale (VIII. 460): whence, by analogy, the false form begouth for past of gan, itself the past of ginnen, to begin.