Etymologically
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is

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈis][1]

Forms

is (feminine ea, neuter id); demonstrative pronoun[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *is, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)i- (“he, she, it”).[2][1] The stem in /i/ survives in the nominative, in ⟨id⟩ and in the archaic accusative ⟨im⟩, ⟨em⟩, and the other forms were built on a stem ⟨ei-⟩, taken from the plural and the genitive singular.[2] The genitive ⟨eius⟩ (⟨eiius⟩) is hard to explain.[2]

Cognate with Oscan izic and Umbrian erek, Gothic 𐌹𐍃 (is, “he”) and Lithuanian jis (“he”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables (with the accusative im and em) and in Livius Andronicus.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Is takes up a person or thing already mentioned (“he, she, it; this, that”) or announces a relative clause (is quī “he who”).[3] It also expresses kind or degree (“such”, is … ut “such … that”), and its neuter id stands for a fact or statement.[3]

Old forms such as eiius, eae and ibus survive in Plautus and Cato.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The accusatives im and em in the Twelve Tables.[3][2]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the genitive eiius and the dative ibus.[3][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes the dative and ablative feminine plural eābus.[2][4]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. he, she, it;[3][5] (plural) they (referring to someone already mentioned).[3][5]
  2. (adjective) This, that (just mentioned).[3]
  3. The one, he (followed by a relative clause); id quod, a thing which.[3]
  4. Of that kind or degree, such.[3]
  5. (neuter id) That fact, that statement.[3]
  6. et is, et id, and that too.[3]

Word family

Usage notes

The Hebrew word for “man” that Jerome explains in his notes on Genesis, also written is, is unrelated to the pronoun.[6][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften