hij

Forms

hij^[1] The enclitic form is ie, as in daar gaat ie, from Middle Dutch -i.^[2][3] Unlike me beside mij or we beside wij, the pronoun has no unstressed form he.^[2] The undiphthongised hi lives on in several dialects, and Maastricht and Valkenburg have heer.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch hi, inherited from Old Dutch hē, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hiz.^[2][1][4] Old Dutch also has hie, and Middle Dutch occasionally hie and hē.^[2] The same pronoun is Old Saxon hē, Old Frisian hi (modern West Frisian hy) and Old English hē (modern English he), while Old High German er (modern German er), Old Norse er (a relative particle) and Gothic 𐌹𐍃 (is) have no initial h.^[2][5]

According to the EWN, North Sea Germanic and parts of Middle Franconian put a particle Proto-Germanic *h(ī)-, probably demonstrative in origin, before the old pronoun Proto-Germanic *iz (unstressed *ez), as they did in hem, haar and hun; unstressed forms in the other Germanic languages lack it.^[2] Proto-Indo-European had no separate pronoun of the third person; the Germanic one comes from the demonstrative Proto-Indo-European *h₁e, whose masculine nominative is related to Latin is (“that”), Sanskrit अयम् (ayám), Lithuanian jis (“he”) and Old Irish é (“he”).^[2][5] The WNT, Van Veen and De Vries explain the initial h instead from the demonstrative stem of hier, heen and het, which De Vries traces to Proto-Indo-European *ḱei- and compares with Ancient Greek ἐκεῖ (ekeî, “there”) and Latin cis (“on this side”).^[3][6][7] De Vries finds it hard to say which ancestral forms the various Germanic forms go back to.^[8]

When stressed, the Middle Dutch pronoun had a long vowel, which was diphthongised to the modern form.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record, a charm of about 891–900, has the object form in tho gihelida ina use druhtin “then our Lord healed him”.^[4] The subject form he appears in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, as in under managon he uuas mit mi “among many he was with me”.^[4][2] In Middle Dutch hi is first found around 1200 in Limburg, still spelled he there.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Besides men and male animals, hij has always referred to things that are grammatically masculine, as in a quotation of 1620 about cream (room).^[3] The object form hem was long used as a reflexive, where modern Dutch has zich, and in the speech of 1904 it appeared without a clear referent in phrases such as hij had 'em leelijk om “he was very drunk”, and in the children's jij bent 'em “you're it”.^[3]

Used as a noun, een hij is a male, opposed to een zij; a text of 1597 speaks of een hy en sy, a male and a female lamb.^[3] The WNT, following Middle Dutch scholarship, takes this use back to a misunderstood Middle Dutch noun hie (“male animal”), already found around 1270.^[3][9]

Afrikaans has hy.^[1] The pronoun also passed into Javindo and Petjo, and into Chinese Malay as hèy.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 891–900 – Old Dutch ina “him” is recorded in a charm.^[4]
• 901–1000 – The subject form he appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2][11]
• c. 1200 – Middle Dutch he, hi is recorded in Limburg.^[9]
• c. 1270 – The noun hie “male animal” is recorded.^[9]
• 1564 – Hy ende ic “he and I” is quoted in the WNT.^[3]
• 1597 – Een hy en sy “a male and a female” shows the noun use.^[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. he: the subject form of the third person singular masculine, for male persons and animals and for things of masculine gender.^[12][1][3]

Noun

1. A male, a male being or animal: is het een hij of een zij?^[12][1][3]

Word family

• hijzelf

Related words

• hem
• hier
• het
• ie
• English he

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
7. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 164
8. ^ Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
12. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers