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.