In Hebrew, the thrird-person singular pronouns, written in our characters are:
Hoo (masc.) and Hee (fem.)
Since I know that Semitic languages are not even Indo-European, I realize that any such connection would be a stretch. Nevertheless, I just wanted to put it out there.
In Ilkeston, in the Erewash Valley, East Midlands, ‘He’ is ‘eh’ or ‘ee’, while ‘She’ is ‘oh’. ‘They’ is usually ‘thee’, and ‘We’ and ‘We are’ is ‘wey’.
> Language change typically happens unconsciously over generations, but when we look at it from a distance, it sometimes fools us into thinking the language is making choices. And when I say that the language “cares about“ grammatical distinctions, I’m flirting with being fooled myself. But if we understand this idea that languages make choices, metaphorically, we can see the success of she as something like the result of one of these choices — the choice to preserve what was seen as a crucial grammatical distinction.
You can see a similar process today with English's attempt to generate a new second person plural pronoun.
From what I have been able to glean, Irish sí 'she' is ultimately from the same root as the Old English feminine demonstrative sēo — both from the Indo-European demonstrative só 'this, that', plus different feminine endings. But sé was originally é, and got its s- late in life, perhaps by analogy with sí. If that's true, it's the exact same process by which she got its -e, by analogy with he.
I did not realize the word “choose” was of Anglo-saxon origin, given the proximity of the word “choice” to similar French words. I wonder if there was some confusion due to similar words floating around in circulation that led “choose” not to develop into “cheese” the way that “heo” developed into “hee” and “he.”
What's especially cool is that the French word "choisir" is itself of Germanic origin (probably Frankish), so when the word "choice" came into English from French, it was a kind of boomerang word: going from Germanic to Romance back to Germanic again.
The word "choice" probably came into English because the equivalent noun form of "ceosan" was (due to a variety of very old sound changes) "cyre," which became Middle English "kire." Since this sounded nothing like either "cheese" or "choose," the language had no closely related noun form of "choose" — and when "choice" presented itself, it was a natural fit. There was also a French-derived verb "choise" which didn't make it into standard English.
Thank you for your interesting articles. I can’t get enough of insights into Old English. I did not know the full story of “she” until I read your excellent essay.
Wonderful essay had me reflecting on the college course I had with Fr. Walter J. Ong “Orality and Literacy” and the tendency over time to use less tongue muscle effort as “hy” is less effort than “sh”. Fricatives and stops etc. Blessed.
Really interesting article, thanks! I’m wondering how we will move through the third singular pronoun (non binary) issue over time. As an older person, who tends to get a bit picky about grammar, I have a really hard time with “they.” It’s often very confusing when used as the singular. The French are often using “ille” (combination of il and elle). Any ideas for English?
In Hebrew, the thrird-person singular pronouns, written in our characters are:
Hoo (masc.) and Hee (fem.)
Since I know that Semitic languages are not even Indo-European, I realize that any such connection would be a stretch. Nevertheless, I just wanted to put it out there.
I think it is ultimately coincidental but it's a fun coincidence!
In Ilkeston, in the Erewash Valley, East Midlands, ‘He’ is ‘eh’ or ‘ee’, while ‘She’ is ‘oh’. ‘They’ is usually ‘thee’, and ‘We’ and ‘We are’ is ‘wey’.
> Language change typically happens unconsciously over generations, but when we look at it from a distance, it sometimes fools us into thinking the language is making choices. And when I say that the language “cares about“ grammatical distinctions, I’m flirting with being fooled myself. But if we understand this idea that languages make choices, metaphorically, we can see the success of she as something like the result of one of these choices — the choice to preserve what was seen as a crucial grammatical distinction.
You can see a similar process today with English's attempt to generate a new second person plural pronoun.
What's especially fun about that is that different places have innovated in such different ways. I grew up in a "yous" zone.
Y'all. We need it since thou art gone.
Is there any link to Irish pronouns? In Irish he/she are sé/sí [ʃeɪ / ʃi]
From what I have been able to glean, Irish sí 'she' is ultimately from the same root as the Old English feminine demonstrative sēo — both from the Indo-European demonstrative só 'this, that', plus different feminine endings. But sé was originally é, and got its s- late in life, perhaps by analogy with sí. If that's true, it's the exact same process by which she got its -e, by analogy with he.
As a child (70 years ago!) in the Peak District of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, I heard 'she' spoken as 'ew' or 'eyoo'.
Amazing!
So fascinating. Thank you!
Thanks, Ruth!
Several times I wondered how we went from heo to she ("they/hie" I had heard about...probably from you, now that I think of it).
Same — it's probably the weirdest of the English pronouns!
I did not realize the word “choose” was of Anglo-saxon origin, given the proximity of the word “choice” to similar French words. I wonder if there was some confusion due to similar words floating around in circulation that led “choose” not to develop into “cheese” the way that “heo” developed into “hee” and “he.”
It may well have been!
What's especially cool is that the French word "choisir" is itself of Germanic origin (probably Frankish), so when the word "choice" came into English from French, it was a kind of boomerang word: going from Germanic to Romance back to Germanic again.
The word "choice" probably came into English because the equivalent noun form of "ceosan" was (due to a variety of very old sound changes) "cyre," which became Middle English "kire." Since this sounded nothing like either "cheese" or "choose," the language had no closely related noun form of "choose" — and when "choice" presented itself, it was a natural fit. There was also a French-derived verb "choise" which didn't make it into standard English.
Do we know what the other inflectional forms were of this now-extinct hee < héo? (And can I assume the he-him-his inflections were inherited?)
OE had Nom. hēo, Acc. hīe, Gen./Dat. hire.
Middle English had Nom. hee, Acc. hee => hire, Gen./Dat. hire (for dialects that had hee).
And right, the he/him/his forms are inherited!
Thank you for your interesting articles. I can’t get enough of insights into Old English. I did not know the full story of “she” until I read your excellent essay.
Thank you, Mark! Old English is a vein that I never tire of mining!
Beautiful essay! I am just starting Osweald Bera.
Thank you very much, Sandra! I hope you enjoy your journey with Ōsweald!
sēo is gōd lār!
Iċ seċġe þē þanc!
Wonderful essay had me reflecting on the college course I had with Fr. Walter J. Ong “Orality and Literacy” and the tendency over time to use less tongue muscle effort as “hy” is less effort than “sh”. Fricatives and stops etc. Blessed.
" In Old English, the meaning ‘she’ was expressed by hēo (pronounced approximately like “heyoh”)."
Which I assume is the source of the current term: "ho". LOL Sorry - couldn't resist.
She sounds quite like the German equivalent “Sie”.
Really interesting article, thanks! I’m wondering how we will move through the third singular pronoun (non binary) issue over time. As an older person, who tends to get a bit picky about grammar, I have a really hard time with “they.” It’s often very confusing when used as the singular. The French are often using “ille” (combination of il and elle). Any ideas for English?
Great. More pronouns.