*sī

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *sī "she" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the feminine nominative singular of the third-person pronoun as *sī ~ *si(j)u,^[2] and Wiktionary lists *si(j)u as an alternative form.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sī (“she”).^[3][4] In Proto-West Germanic it took on the usual feminine ending *-u and became *si(j)u; the change was not complete, since sī survives in some Old High German dialects.^[3] EWA sees the accusative *sija as the model for the new nominative *siju, which matched it.^[5]

Morphology

The feminine nominative singular of the third-person pronoun, which was built on the stems *i- and *si-.^[2][6] Its *s- spread in Proto-West Germanic to the feminine accusative singular, which became *sijā, and to the nominative and accusative plural of all genders.^[3][2] Ringe and Taylor also take the feminine nominative singular of the demonstrative "that", *si(j)u, which replaced inherited *sū, to be formed after this pronoun, together with the masculine *siz.^[3]

Evidence

The pronoun is attested in Old Frisian, beside the enclitic se,^[7] in Old Saxon siu,^[8] in Old Dutch siu from Williram's commentary of 1100,^[9] and in Old High German, where siu and sī stand side by side in the 8th and 9th centuries and Otfrid has si more often than siu.^[5] Old English has no forms in s- in the personal pronoun.^[10] The new nominative *siju is continued in Old English in the feminine demonstrative sēo, earlier sīo.^[5][11]

Competing analyses

Krogh holds that the stem *si- must have existed in all the West Germanic languages before the new masculine nominative in h- was formed in English, Frisian, Dutch and Saxon.^[6] In English the h- was then carried through the whole paradigm and drove out *si- except for scattered dialect relics.^[12] He takes the Middle Kentish enclitic forms es and is for relics of the older system and thinks that Kentish may have been the one Old English dialect to keep the stem.^[10] Nielsen instead takes them for loans from Frisian.^[10] Since the stem was shared by all of West Germanic, and perhaps by all of Germanic, as Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) shows, Krogh does not count it as an agreement that groups some of these languages together.^[10]

EWA reports that Seebold derives Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) from *siə rather than *sī, because a monosyllable *sī would hardly have been shortened.^[5] Boutkan and Siebinga instead hold that the Gothic form shows that the laryngeal was lost before it could contract with the preceding vowel.^[7]

Meanings

1. she^[3][1]

Old Saxon also used siu for the neuter plural "they".^[8]

Reflexes

• Old Frisian: siu (“she”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: siu (“she, they”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: siu (“she”)^[9]
• Old High German: siu (“she”), sī^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sī
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 124
3. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 81
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 329
5. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. er
6. ^ a b Krogh, Steffen (1996), Die Stellung des Altsächsischen im Rahmen der germanischen Sprachen, Studien zum Althochdeutschen 29, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
7. ^ a b c Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. se
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. siu
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. siu
10. ^ a b c d Krogh, Steffen (1996), Die Stellung des Altsächsischen im Rahmen der germanischen Sprachen, Studien zum Althochdeutschen 29, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, p. 323
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 389
12. ^ Krogh, Steffen (1996), Die Stellung des Altsächsischen im Rahmen der germanischen Sprachen, Studien zum Althochdeutschen 29, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, p. 320