Etymologically
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ic

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Pronunciation

Forms

iċ[1] Northumbrian rarely ih.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ik, the unstressed form of *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm.[1] The other Germanic languages have Gothic 𐌹𐌺 (ik), Old Norse ek, Old Frisian ik, Old Saxon ik and Old High German ih.[3][4] Hogg and Fulk explain the Proto-Germanic form as the unstressed one whose vowel was carried into the stressed one, so that only the Old Norse form keeps the original vowel, as Latin egō does; the first-person pronoun had a nominative of another stem than the oblique cases (mē, mīn) already in Proto-Indo-European.[5][6] Holthausen and Etymonline compare Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ), Lithuanian aš and Hittite uk.[4][7]

Hogg dates the weakening of final ⟨c⟩ to ⟨h⟩ seen in the Northumbrian form before the ⟨c⟩ became an affricate, and takes Middle English I and English I to go back to this weakening.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the will of the reeve Abba of 833×839, a contemporary single sheet, which opens Ic Abba geroefa cyðe & writan hate hu min willa is, “I, Abba the reeve, make known and have written down what my will is”.[9][10] The Corpus Glossary of the first half of the ninth century has ic groetu for Latin “conuenio”.[11][10]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun is used as the subject of a verb, with a noun in apposition, as in a king's Ic Æðelstán cyningc cýðe, and as a predicate, ic hyt eom, it is I.[12] It is one of the commonest words of the record, 181 times in Beowulf alone.[13] A negated form niċ, from ne iċ, is used as the answer “no”.[14]

It lived on as Middle English ich, also icc in the Ormulum; the Peterborough Chronicle has Ic in a1121 and I by ?a1160.[15] It was reduced to i by the mid-twelfth century in the north, and later everywhere, while ich lasted in southern dialects until the eighteenth century.[7]

Timeline

  • 833×839 – Ic Abba geroefa cyðe in Abba's will, a contemporary single sheet.[9][10]
  • s. ix¹ – ic groetu glossing “conuenio” in the Corpus Glossary.[11][10]
  • a1121 – Ic haue ge-seond in the Peterborough Chronicle.[15]
  • ?a1160 – the reduced form I in the Peterborough Chronicle.[15]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. I, the speaker as subject.[12][3][13]

Descendants

  • Middle English ich (→ English ich)[1]
  • Middle English I (→ English I; Scots A)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.52
  3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ic
  4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 185
  5. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.24
  6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.25
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.53
  9. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
  10. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  11. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 76
  12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 585
  13. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. iċ
  14. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.23
  15. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)