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From: smryan@netcom.com (S M Ryan)
Subject: Re: Old English familiar
Message-ID: <smryanCxDzGy.HnB@netcom.com>
Organization: Dawn Patrol on the Internet
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References: <ROLFL.94Oct7071243@ask.uio.no>
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 03:38:58 GMT
Lines: 32

Rolf Marvin Be Lindgren (rolf.lindgren@psykologi.uio.no) wrote:
: Could somebody please enlighten me as to how one in days of yore used
: the familiar personal pronouns in English:

: the, thou, thy, thine? 

2nd person singular pronouns

	thu: 'thou'	nominative
	thi:n 'thine'	genitive
	the: 'thee'	everything else
			(and sometimes thec)

(th represent thorn, : long vowels, they rhyme with Sue, seen, say)

They went out of favour recently, in the 18th century methinks (judging
by Quakers).

: Also, why is it "Mine eyes have seen..." Is that just an archaic
: conjugation, or is the my/mine, thy/thine difference similar to the
: a/an usage?

Yes, but I don't know when the allomorphs separated. It could have
been a deliberately archaic construct. My impression is King James bible
kept alive archaic usage, which then might be used to create a solemn
impression.

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