we

Forms

wē (personal pronoun)^[1] Plural of iċ: accusative and dative ūs, genitive ūre.^[2] The Anglian dialects and the poetry also have an accusative ūsiċ.^[3] Late Northumbrian may spell the word woe, with rounding after w.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *wiz.^[1][5] The pronoun is shared by all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis), Old Norse vér, Old Frisian wī, Old Saxon wī and Old High German wir.^[6][7][8] Outside Germanic, Orel compares Hittite wēš, Sanskrit वयम् (vayám) and Avestan vaēm;^[7] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wéy, the plural of *éǵh₂ (“I”).^[1]

The final *-z was lost in the northern West Germanic dialects with lengthening of the vowel, and in Old English the long vowel was lowered from *ī to ē, while in Old High German the *-z became r.^[5] Hogg and Fulk add that the short vowel is the older one and that wē had unstressed variants with a short vowel.^[2]

The other cases come from a different stem, as in the other Germanic languages: the oblique *uns goes back to Proto-Indo-European *n̥s-, the source also of Latin nōs.^[6][7] Before the fricative the nasal was lost and the vowel lengthened, giving ūs beside Old High German uns.^[9] The Anglian accusative ūsiċ, like Old High German unsih, adds an ending *-ik taken from the accusative singular *mik,^[3] and the genitive ūre has no exact parallel in Germanic: Hogg and Fulk derive it from the stem *ūser- used as an adjective.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is the will of Abba the reeve, of 833×839, on a single sheet held to be contemporary: he asks that the lord of Christ Church be his protector, & an his hlaforddome we bian moten "and that we may be under his lordship".^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun is used of two people where the dual wit might stand, and of a larger group.^[13] In the laws a king says "we" of himself and his counsellors, as Ine, Alfred, Æthelstan and Cnut do.^[13][14] A writer may also say "we" of himself (in the Orosius and Ælfric's homilies), and in Beowulf the hero says of his fight We ðæt ellenweorc … fremedon "we performed that deed of valour".^[13]

The word lived on as Middle English we, now English we.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 833×839 – an his hlaforddome we bian moten in the will of Abba, a contemporary single sheet.^[11][12]
• s. ix med. – we micliað “we will magnify”, glossing Latin “magnificabimus”, in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[17][12]
• s. x/xi – We ðæt ellenweorc … fremedon, a hero speaking of himself, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][13]
• a1150 – Middle English we in a homily on Nicodemus in Cotton Vespasian D. xiv.^[15]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. we, of two persons.^[13]
2. we, of more than two persons; in the laws, a king with his counsellors.^[13][14][8]
3. we, of one person: a writer or speaker, or a prince speaking of himself.^[13]

Descendants

• Middle English we (→ English we; Scots we; Scots oo)^[1]

Related words

• iċ
• wit
• ġē

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.23
3. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.26
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.28
5. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 86
6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 590
7. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 460
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wē
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.14
10. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 5.25
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
13. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1170
14. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 236
15. ^ a b 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)
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ 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. 329
18. ^ 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. 344