Etymologically
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sie

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Pronunciation

Forms

sie (personal pronoun, third person feminine singular and third person plural; genitive ihrer, dative ihr or plural ihnen, accusative sie)[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German si, inherited from Old High German siu, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sī (“she”).[3][1][4] The same form is Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si), which serves only as the nominative singular feminine, all other forms of the Gothic pronoun coming from another stem.[3][5] The Grimms' dictionary considers this the original Germanic state.[5] Outside Germanic the form is matched by Old Irish sí (“she”) and by a relic in Greek.[3][6][4]

Kluge explains it as a feminine built on the reflexive stem Proto-Indo-European *se, extended by an anaphoric particle or blended with the more widespread pronoun of the stem Proto-Indo-European *i-, and later transferred to the plural.[3] Pfeifer describes how the German paradigm grew: on the model of the demonstrative (thiu, accusative thia) the pronoun formed a nominative siu and an accusative sia, and since these now had the endings of strong adjectives, it built its plural in the same way (masculine sie, feminine sio, neuter like the feminine singular).[7] Already in Old High German these full forms were reduced to sī and si beside the masculine plural form, and these remained in Middle High German until a single form prevailed for all of them in modern German.[7][6]

The English pronoun she is not the same word: the Grimms derive it from the demonstrative Old English sēo, since all Old English dialects have forms beginning with h for the personal pronoun.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pronoun is recorded from the 8th century.[3] In Old High German it belongs to the paradigm of er “he”, which is found in glosses perhaps as early as the first half of the 8th century and in nearly all the literary texts, from the Exhortatio ad plebem Christianam and Tatian to Otfrid and Notker.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century sie was also used as a noun for a female being: Walther von der Vogelweide has ez sî ein sie, ez sî ein er (“be it a she or a he”).[10][11] The noun was often applied to female animals, especially birds, and its diminutive became the hunters' word Sieke for a hen bird.[7][10]

The polite Sie began as an ordinary third-person plural pronoun beside the plural titles that came into use for persons of high rank in the 16th century (Euer Gnaden haben …, sie haben …, “Your Grace have …, they have …”).[6] From the early 17th century it addressed a prince directly, and by the end of the century it was a general form of address, at first beside the older Ihr.[7][6] At the same time the feminine singular Sie, with a singular verb, was used to address a woman, at first more politely than Ihr; in the 18th century it sank to an address for social inferiors and was replaced by the plural Sie for both sexes.[7][10] The verb siezen “to address with Sie” dates from the 17th century.[7][6]

Timeline

  • 8th century – First record in Old High German.[3]
  • 12th century – Used as a noun for a female: Walther von der Vogelweide's ein sie.[10]
  • 16th century – Plural titles such as Euer Gnaden are taken up with the plural sie.[6]
  • Early 17th century – Sie is used to address a princely person.[7]
  • 17th century – Sie addresses a woman with a singular verb; the verb siezen appears.[10][7]
  • Late 17th century – The plural Sie becomes a general form of address.[7]
  • 18th century – Sie is the usual address among nobles and the educated middle class and is written with a capital.[6]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. she, her: refers to a feminine noun, a person or a thing already mentioned.[2][1]
  2. they, them: refers to a plural noun or to several persons or things;[2][1] (colloquial) people in general or the authorities.[2][1]
  3. (capitalised, Sie) The formal you, singular or plural, used to anyone not addressed as du or ihr.[2][1]
  4. (dated, capitalised) Formerly, an address to a female subordinate, with a singular verb.[2]

Noun

  1. (colloquial, die Sie) A female person or animal.[2]

Word family

  • siezen
  • Sieke

Usage notes

In speech the pronoun is often reduced to /zə/, written se or -se.[1] The genitive is ihrer; the shorter ihr (wir werden uns ihr annehmen) is dated.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 847
  4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 759
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 89
  10. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities