ἡμεῖς

Forms

ἡμεῖς (hēmeîs) ^[1] Attic accusative ἡμᾶς, genitive ἡμῶν, dative ἡμῖν, Ionic accusative ἡμέας, genitive ἡμέων, epic genitive also ἡμείων, enclitic dative ἧμιν or ἥμιν.^[2][3] Aeolic ἄμμες, accusative ἄμμε, dative ἄμμι(ν), Doric ᾱ̔μές, accusative ᾱ̔μέ, dative ᾱ̔μῖν.^[4][2]

Etymology

The forms rest on the old accusative, Doric ᾱ̔μέ (hāmé) and Aeolic ἄμμε (ámme), from *ἀσμε (*asme).^[4][5] It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *n̥sme, a zero-grade stem *n̥s- with an added element *-sme.^[4][5][1] With the endings of nouns this accusative gave the nominative ᾱ̔μές (hāmés), ἄμμες (ámmes) and, in Ionic–Attic, ἡμεῖς from ⟨-έες⟩, with a new accusative ἡμέας (hēméas), contracted irregularly in Attic to ἡμᾶς (hēmâs).^[4][5] The rough breathing may be taken over from ὑμεῖς (hūmeîs, “you (plural)”).^[4][1]

The archaic accusative agrees exactly with Avestan ahma (“us”); other languages have the simpler stem, as in Latin nōs and Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍃 (uns).^[4] Like Latin and Celtic, Greek lost the old nominative for "we", still seen in 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (weis) and Hittite wēš, and used the accusative stem instead.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses all the cases, in the Ionic forms with the epic genitive ἡμείων and enclitic dative ἥμιν beside them.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The dialects kept their own forms: Aeolic ἄμμες (ámmes), as in Alcaeus, who once has the dative ἄμμεσιν (ámmesin), and Doric ᾱ̔μές (hāmés).^[2][4] The nominative is used to stress the speakers, especially in contrast with another pronoun, and the stressed forms of the other cases are used for emphasis or after prepositions.^[2] The possessive adjective is ἡμέτερος (hēméteros), Doric ἁμέτερος and ἁμός, Aeolic ἀμμέτερος and ἄμμος.^[4][5]

Medieval vernacular Greek has (ε)μείς,^[6] and Modern Greek εμείς (emeís) took its initial ⟨ε⟩ by analogy with the singular ἐγώ (egṓ).^[7][1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the pronoun in all its cases.^[3]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the Aeolic forms, once with the dative ἄμμεσιν (ámmesin).^[2][8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has (ε)μείς ((e)meís).^[6]
• Modern Greek – The pronoun is εμείς (emeís).^[7][1]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. We, us: the first person plural pronoun.^[2][1][4]
2. In the nominative, used to stress the speakers, especially in contrast with others.^[2]
3. In the other cases, stressed forms for emphasis or after a preposition, beside unstressed enclitic ones.^[2][3]

Word family

• ἡμέτερος (hēméteros)
• ἡμεδαπός (hēmedapós)

Related words

• ἐγώ (egṓ)
• νώ (nṓ)
• ὑμεῖς (hūmeîs)
• Latin nōs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge