RE: thorn vs. y or th, eth and other similar letters/signs

From: Philippe Verdy (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Mon Oct 29 2007 - 01:13:07 CST

  • Next message: Michael Maxwell: "RE: thorn vs. y or th, eth and other similar letters/signs"

    Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
    > Besides, the declension is wrong. "Thou" is subjective and "thee" is
    > objective, whereas for plural the subjective was "ye" and the objective
    > was "you". So they're reversed with respect to each other.

    To be more clear, you just confirm that 'th'/thorn/eth and 'y' are not so
    similar, and seem confused only by coincidence:

      ----------------+-------+---------------------+------------------+
      Old/Mid English | Subj. | Obj. | Reflected | Adj. | Possess.|
      ----------------+-------+---------------------+------------------+
      1st sing. | I | Me? | Myself | My | Mine |
      1st plur. | We | Us | Ourselves | Our | Ours |
      ----------------+-------+---------------------+------------------+
      2nd sing. | Thou | Thee | Yourself?? | Your?? | Yours?? |
      2nd plur. | Ye | You | Yourselves? | Your | Yours |
      ----------------+-------+---------------------+------------------+
      3rd sing. masc. | He | Him | Himself | His | Hims? |
      3rd sing. fem. | She | Her? | Herself? | Her | Hers? |
      3rd sing. neut. | It | It | Itself | Its | One's?? |
      3rd plur. | They | Them | Themselves | Their | Theirs |
      ----------------+-------+---------------------+------------------+

    I don't know if there were different words for Middle English above (that's
    why I put question marks), and about the other derived possessives
    (adjectives or pronouns).

    Are there other cases in Middle/Old English? What was then the distinction
    between "thorn" and "eth" and how did they evolve? Apparently it was never
    to "y" (except apparently coincidentally but from words with distinct
    origins).



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