CHAPTER XII

PRONOUNS

§ 259. The most difficult chapter in works on comparative grammar is the one dealing with the pronouns. It is impossible to state with any degree of certainty how 119many pronouns the parent Indg. language had and what forms they had assumed at the time it became differentiated into the various branches which constitute the Indg. family of languages. The difficulty is rendered still more complicated by the fact that most of the pronouns, especially the personal and demonstrative, must have had accented and unaccented forms existing side by side in the parent language itself; and that one or other of the forms became generalized already in the prehistoric period of the individual branches of the parent language. And then at a later period, but still in prehistoric times, there arose new accented and unaccented forms side by side in the individual branches, as e.g. in prim. Germanic ek, mek beside ik, mik. The separate Germanic languages generalized one or other of these forms before the beginning of the oldest literary monuments and then new accented beside unaccented forms came into existence again. And similarly during the historic periods of the different languages. Thus, e.g. the OE. for I is ic, this became in ME. ich accented form beside i unaccented form, ich then disappeared in standard ME. (but it is still preserved in one of the modern dialects of Somersetshire) and i came to be used as the accented and unaccented form. At a later period it became ī when accented and remained i when unaccented. The former has become NE. I, and the latter has disappeared from the literary language, but it is still preserved in many northern Engl. dialects, as i. In these dialects i is regularly used in interrogative and subordinate sentences; the ME. accented form ī has become ai and is only used in the dialects to express special emphasis, and from it a new unaccented form a has been developed which can only be used in making direct assertions. Thus in one and the same dialect (Windhill, Yorks.) we arrive at three forms: ai, a, i, which are never mixed up syntactically by genuine native dialect 120speakers. Something similar to what has happened and still is happening in the modern dialects must also have taken place in the prehistoric and historic periods of all the Indg. languages; hence in the prehistoric forms of the pronouns given below it must not be assumed that they were the only ones existing in prim. Germanic. They are merely given as the nearest ascertainable forms from which the Gothic forms were descended.

1. Personal.

§ 260.

First Person.

Second Person.

Third Person.

§ 261. In the parent language the nom. was rarely used except to express emphasis (cp. Skr. Lat. and Gr.), because it was sufficiently indicated by the personal endings of the verb. Beside the accented form of each case of the personal pronouns, there also existed one or more unaccented forms just as in many modern dialects, where we often find three or even four forms for the nom. case of each pronoun. It is impossible to determine whether forms like ik, mik, mis, and þu, þuk, þus, jus represent the original accented or unaccented forms, because prim. Germanic e became i in Gothic both in accented (§ 66) and unaccented syllables (§ 107), and u, ū were not distinguished in writing (§ 3). Forms with medial -z- like izwis, izōs, izē, &c. represent unaccented forms (§ 136). The -k in mik, þuk, sik (§ 262) goes back to a prim. Germanic emphatic particle *ke = Indg. *ge, which is found in Gr. pronominal forms like ἐμέγε, me indeed. The gen. of the sing., dual and plural of the first and second persons probably represents the nom. acc. neut. pl. of the corresponding possessive pronouns (§ 263), which came to be used for the gen. of the personal pronouns. The origin of the final -s in mis, þus, sis, and of the -is in unsis, izwis, ugkis, igqis is unknown.

Prim. Germanic *ek (O.Icel. ek, cp. Lat. ego, Gr. ἐγώ): *ik (OE. ic, OS. ik, OHG. ih); *mek: *mik (O.Icel. OS. mik, OHG. mih); *mes: *miz (OS. mī̌, OHG. mir); *wīs (Goth. weis): *wiz (OS. wī̌, OHG. wir); *unz (= OE. OS. ūs, OHG. uns, Indg. *ns with vocalic n, § 54), the unaccented form of *nes = Skr. nas, us; *unsiz formed from Goth. uns + iz; Goth. OE. OS. wi-t, O.Icel. vi-t are unaccented plural forms with the addition of -t which is of obscure origin; *uŋ-kiz (§ 158) where uŋ- = the un- in un-s, cp. OE. unc, OS. unk. *þū (Lat. tū, O.Icel. OE. þū, OS. thū, OHG. dū): *þu (Gr. σύ, OE. þu, OS. thu, OHG. du); *þek (? OE. þec): *þik (O.Icel. þik, OS. thik, 122OHG. dih), the Goth. acc. and dat. had u from the nominative; *þes: *þiz (OS. thī̌, OHG. dir); *jūs (Lith. jũs): *juz, Goth. may represent either form. It is doubtful what were the original forms of izwis and igqis (OE. inc, OS. ink).

Nom. sing. is (Lat. is); in-a (O.Lat. im, OS. ina, OHG. in), the final -a from prim. Germanic -ō is originally a preposition governing the acc. case like Skr. ā́, up to, used after accusatives; and similarly in ita, þata, þana (§ 265), ƕana (§ 273), the -ō is regularly preserved in ƕanōh (§ 275), ƕarjanōh, ƕarjatōh (§ 275), þisƕanōh (§ 276); it-a (Lat. id, OS. it, OHG. iȥ); gen. is from Indg. *eso (OHG. OS. is with i from in, iȥ; ina, it); imma from the Indg. instr. *esmē, -ō (OS. OHG. imu, -ō) with the assimilation of -sm- to -mm- after vowels; and similarly in þamma (§ 265), ƕamma (§ 273), ƕammēh (§ 275) where the -ē is regularly preserved. eis, ins, im (OS. OHG. im), neut. nom. acc. pl. ija, from prim. Germanic *īs, ins, im-, *ijō older *ijā; izē, formed from the gen. sing. is + the gen. ending -ē (§§ 87 (1), 179), and similarly OS. OHG. iro with -o from older -ō̃n. The original Indg. gen. pl. was *eisō̃m which would have become *eizō in Goth. and *īro in OS. OHG.

*sī (Gr. ἵ, O.Ir. OHG. sī): *si (Goth. OHG. si); ija from *ijōn older *ijām (cp. bandja, § 193); izōs from *ezō̃z older *esā̃s (cp. gibōs, § 191); izái = Indg. *esāĩ (cp. gibái); ijōs = Indg. *ijā̃s (cp. bandjōs); izō, formed from the iz- in the gen. sing. + the gen. ending -ō, cp. the similar formation of OS. OHG. iro. The regular form would have been *eizō, see above.

2. Reflexive.

§ 262.

The reflexive pronoun originally referred to the chief person of the sentence (generally the subject), irrespectively as to whether the subject was the first, second, or third person singular or plural. This usage remained in Sanskrit, but in the Germanic languages the pronouns of the first and second person came to be used reflexively already in prim. Germanic, and then the original reflexive pronoun became restricted to the third person. In Goth. sik, seina, sis were used for both numbers and all genders. sik from prim. Germ. se+ke (§ 261), OHG. sih, cp. Gr. ἕ from *σε, Lat. sē; seina is of the same origin as meina, þeina (§ 261); on sis see § 261.

3. Possessive.

§ 263. The possessive pronouns meins, my; þeins, thy; *seins, his, are originally old locatives, Indg. *mei, *tei, *sei with the addition of the nominal suffix -no-, whence prim. Germanic masc. nom. *mīnaz, *þīnaz, *sīnaz; fem. nom. *mīnō, *þīnō, *sīnō. Only the acc. gen. dat. sing. and pl. of *seins occur. This form of the possessive pronoun is only used when it relates to the subject of its own sentence. When it relates to any word other than the subject of its own sentence, it is expressed by the gen. case of the personal pronoun masc. and neut. sing. is, plural izē; fem. sing. izōs, plural izō. The nom. of the third person for both sing. and plural all genders is expressed by the gen. case of the personal pronoun (§ 260). See § 431.

The remaining possessive pronouns were formed from the personal pronouns by means of the Indg. comparative suffix -ero-, prim. Germanic -era-, as unsar, our; *ugkar, of us two; izwar, your; igqar, of you two.

§ 264. The possessive pronouns are declined according to the strong declension like blinds (§ 226). The possessive pronouns ending in -ar do not have the form in 124-ata in the nom. acc. sing. neut. On the nom. sing. masc. unsar, &c., see § 175:—

4. Demonstrative.

§ 265. The simple demonstrative sa, þata, sō was used both as demonstrative pronoun this, that, and as definite article, the.

In the parent Indg. language the nom. sing. masc. and fem. was *so, *sā = Gr. ὁ, ἡ, Goth. sa, sō. All the other cases of the sing. and pl. were formed from the stems te-, to-, toi-; tā-, tai-, as acc. sing. Gr. τόν, τήν, Lat. is-tum, is-tam, Goth. þan-a, þō; nom. pl. Gr. τοί, ταί, Lat. is-tī, is-tae, Goth. þái, þōs.

sa = Skr. sá, Gr. ὁ OE. sē̌; þan-a (OE. þon-e, OS. then-a, than-a, OHG. den), on the final -a see § 261, cp. Skr. tám, Gr. τόν, Lat. is-tum; þat-a, originally acc. only (§ 261), but in Goth. it came to be used for the nom. also (O.Icel. þat, OE. þæt, OS. that, OHG. daȥ), cp. Gr. τό, Lat. is-tud = Indg. *tod; þis (OS. thes, OHG. des) = prim. Germ. *þesa, Indg. *teso; þamma (cp. OS. themu, OHG. demu) from Indg. instr. *tosmē, -ō (§ 261), cp. ƕammēh (§ 275); þái (OE. þā, OS. thē, OHG. dē), cp. Gr. τοί, Lat. is-tī; þans = Gr. (Cretan dial.) τόνς; nom. acc. neut. þō, cp. Skr. tā́, Lat. is-ta, Indg. *tā; þizē, formed from the gen. sing. þis + the gen. pl. ending -ē (§§ 87 (1), 179), the regular Goth. form would have been *þáizē, which has been preserved in the adjectives as blindáizē (§ 226), the prim. Germanic form was *þaizō̃n (O.Icel. þeira, OE. þāra), Indg. *toisō̃m; þáim (cp. O.Icel. þeim, OE. þǣm, OHG. dēm) from prim. Germ. *þaimiz (§ 175) with ai from the nom. plural.

sō = Skr. sā́, Gr. Doric ᾱ́, Att. Ionic ἡ, O.Icel. sū; þō = Skr. tā́m, Gr. τᾱ́ν, τήν, Lat. is-tam; þizōs (OS. thera, OHG. dera) from prim. Germanic *þezō̃s, Indg. *tesā̌s, the ái in adjectival forms like blindáizōs was from the genitive plural; þizái from prim. Germanic *þezōĩ = Indg. *tesāĩ; nom. acc. pl. þōs from prim. Germanic *þō̃s = Skr. tā́s, Lat. is-tās, Indg. *tā̃s; þizō, with þiz- from the gen. sing. + -ō from older -ō̃n, the ending of the gen. plural. The regular Goth. form would be *þáizō from prim. Germanic *þaizō̃n, corresponding to an Indg. *toisō̃m with oi from the masculine. The -áizō has been preserved in adjectival forms like blindáizō (§ 226). The original gen. pl. fem. was *tā́sō̃m which was preserved in Skr. tā́sām Gr. (Homer) τᾱ́ων from *τᾱ́σων.

§ 266. The compound demonstrative pronoun is formed from the simple one by affixing the enclitic particle -uh. The origin of this particle is unknown, see § 73 note.

§ 267. Of the demonstrative pronoun hi-, formed from the Indg. stem *ki- (cp. Lat. ci-s, ci-ter, on this side), only the acc. and dat. sing. of the masc. and neut. have been preserved in a few adverbial phrases of time, as himma daga, on this day, to-day; und hina dag, to this day; fram himma, henceforth; und hita, und hita nu, till now, hitherto. In OE. it was declined in full and used as the personal pronoun of the third person for all genders. In OS. and OHG. (Franconian dial.) it was used for the 127masc. nom. sing. of the third person, as OS. hē̆, OHG. hē beside er, he. The instr. sing. occurs in OS. hiu-du, OHG. hiu-tu, to-day; OHG. hī-naht, to-night.

§ 268. jáins, that, yon, is declined like blinds (§ 226). The nom. acc. sing. neut. is always jáinata.

§ 269. silba, self; and sama, same; are declined like blinda (§ 237).

5. Relative

§ 270. A relative pronoun proper did not exist in prim. Germanic. The separate Germanic languages expressed it in various ways. In O.Icel. it was generally expressed by the particles sem, es (later er) and the conjunction at, that; in OE. by the relative particle þē̆ alone or in combination with the personal or the simple demonstrative pronoun; in OS. and OHG. generally by the simple demonstrative; and in Goth. by affixing to simple demonstrative or personal pronouns the particle ei (= Gr. εἰ, if; εἶ-τα, then) which is originally the loc. sing. of the pronominal stem *e-, nom. *es; acc. *em (= O.Lat. em), gen. *e-so, instr. *e-smē, -ō = Goth. is, imma (§ 261).

§ 271. The relative pronoun of the third person is expressed by affixing the particle ei to the simple demonstrative sa, þata, sō, and is declined as follows:—

§ 272. The relative pronoun for the first and second persons is expressed by suffixing ei to the respective personal pronouns, thus ikei, (I) who; þuei, (thou) who; þukei, (thee) whom; þuzei, (to thee) whom; juzei, (ye) who; dat. pl. izwizei, (to you) whom.

6. Interrogative

§ 273. The parent Indg. language had two stems from which the interrogative pronoun was formed, viz. qo- and qi- with labialized q (§§ 127, 134). The former occurs in Gr. πό-τερος, which of two?, Goth. ƕas, OE. hwā̌, who?, from an original form *qos; Lat. quod, Goth. ƕa, O.Icel. huat, OS. hwat, OHG. hwaȥ, OE. hwæt, what?, from an original form *qod. And the latter occurs in Gr. τίς, 129Lat. quis, who?, from an original form *qis; Goth. ƕileiks, OE. hwilc, what sort of?

Of the simple interrogative pronoun, only singular forms occur.

The prim. Germanic forms were: nom. *χwas = Skr. kás, Indg. *qos; *χwat (Lat. quod, O.Icel. hvat, OE. hwæt, OS. hwat, OHG. hwaȥ), Goth ƕa was probably the unaccented form when used as an indef. pronoun (§ 279), see § 87, (2); *χwō = Skr. kā́, Indg. *qā́; acc. *χwanō = OE. hwone (§ 261); *χwat; *χwōn, Skr. kā́m, Indg. *qām; gen. *χwesa (Gr. (Homer) τέο from *τέσο, O.Bulgarian česo, O.Icel. hvess, OS. OHG. hews); dat. *χwammē, -ō = Indg. *qo-smē, -ō (§ 261); *χwesai, cp. gibái (§ 191).

§ 274. Nom. sing. masc. and neut. ƕaþar, which of two (other cases do not occur); ƕarjis, which (out of many), inflected like midjis (§ 228), except that the neut. nom. sing. always ends in -ata; ƕileiks, what sort of; ƕēláuþs (fem. ƕēláuda), how great; swaleiks, such; swaláuþs (fem. swaláuda), so great. The extant cases of the last four words are inflected like blinds (§ 226).

7. Indefinite

§ 275. From ƕas, ƕarjis, ƕaþar are formed by means of the particle uh (§ 266) the three indefinite pronouns ƕazuh, each, every; ƕarjizuh, each, every; ƕaþaruh, each of two; but of the last only the dat. masc. occurs, ƕaþarammēh (and in the form áinƕaþarammēh, to each one of two). The other two are declined thus:—

§ 276. The three combinations ƕazuh saei, saƕazuh saei, saƕazuh izei are used in the nom. sing. masc. with 131the meaning whosoever; the corresponding neut., which only occurs in the acc. sing., is þataƕah þei, whatsoever. Another compound indefinite pronoun with the same meaning is formed by prefixing an indeclinable þis (gen. of þata, § 265) to ƕazuh, hah, followed by saei (neut. þatei), þei (§ 265 note 1), or ei (§ 270). It is declined as follows:—

§ 277. Sums, some one, a certain one, declined like blinds (§ 226). Sums … sums (= Gr. ὁ μέν … ὁ δέ), the one … the other; in this usage the particle uh is generally added to the second member, and sometimes to the first also, as nom. pl. sumái(h) … sumáih, some … and others.

§ 278. From ƕas, who, manna, man, áins, one, are formed with the enclitic particle hun the three indefinite pronouns ƕashun, mannahun, áinshun. They always occur along with the negative particle ni in the meaning no one, no, none (neut.), nothing. Of the first only the nom. sing. masc. ni ƕashun, no one, occurs. Of the second, which is naturally always masc., we have sing. nom. ni mannahun, no one, acc. ni mannanhun, gen. ni manshun, dat. ni mannhun. Ni áinshun, no one, no, none (neut.), nothing, is declined thus:—

§ 279. The simple interrogative ƕas, ƕa is often used indefinitely with the meaning anyone, neut. anything; also the numeral áins, one, a certain one.