uns German · revision 34900

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German|origins=ine-pro *n̥s}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''uns''' (dative and accusative plural of the personal pronoun [[wir]]; also reflexive and reciprocal)^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ Old High German had dative ''uns'' and accusative ''unsih''.^(Pfeifer 1993) The accusative ''unsich'' was still frequent in the 12th century and the first half of the 13th, then disappeared from High German.^(Lexer 1872|2, 1929)^(Pfeifer 1993) It survives in part in Low German dialects.^(DWB|24, 1297)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|uns]], [[inh|goh|uns]], [[inh|gem-pro|*uns]].^(Kluge 2011|943)^(Köbler MHD)^(DWB|24, 1297) The same word is [[got|𐌿𐌽𐍃|tr=uns]], beside [[m|got|𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌹𐍃|tr=unsis|t=us]], [[non|oss]], [[ang|ūs]] and [[osx|ūs]], and today [[nl|ons]], [[en|us]] and [[sv|oss]];^(Kluge 2011|943)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) Old Saxon, Old English and Old Norse lost the /n/ and lengthened the vowel.^(Kluge 2011|943)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)

+

+ Pfeifer derives the Germanic form, together with [[sa|अस्मान्|tr=asmā́n|t=us]], from [[ine-pro|*n̥s]], the zero grade of a plural of the pronominal stem [[m|ine-pro|*ne-]] seen in [[m|sa|नः|tr=naḥ|t=us, our]]; [[la|nōs|t=we, us]] has the lengthened grade.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) Kluge finds an exact match outside Germanic in [[hit|anzaš]], and calls the formation of the Sanskrit, Greek and Latin pronouns different.^(Kluge 2011|943)

+

+ The accusative endings of [[m|goh|unsih]], [[m|ang|ūsic]] and [[gml|ūsik]] were adapted to the accusative singular [[mich]], and the Gothic dative and accusative took its ending from the dative singular [[m|got|𐌼𐌹𐍃|tr=mis]].^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Kluge dates the Old High German word to the 8th century.^(Kluge 2011|943) Adelung, around 1800, cites ''uns'' from the Old High German glosses attributed to Kero and ''ons'' from Otfrid.^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Upper German dialects have an umlauted form ''üns'', which the Grimms' dictionary explains by the influence of the old accusative ''unsich''.^(DWB|24, 1297) Older German could also use ''uns'' for the genitive ''unser'', and in a part of Swabian the stressed nominative “we” is ''uns''.^(DWB|24, 1297) From the 14th century on, ''sich'' sometimes replaced ''uns'' as a reflexive (''wir nähern sich''); the Grimms' dictionary quotes Heynatz, who censured it as a Silesian habit.^(DWB|24, 1297)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''uns'' is recorded.^(Kluge 2011|943)

+ * 1060–1080 – Middle High German ''uns'' appears in the Vienna Genesis.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 13th century – The accusative ''unsich'' disappears from High German.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|24, 1297)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(dative and accusative of'' [[wir]]'')'' [[m|en|us]]: ''Sie hat uns zum Essen eingeladen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' [[m|en|ourselves]]: ''Wir haben uns im Wald verlaufen.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(reciprocal)'' Each other, one another: ''Wir schreiben uns jede Woche.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[unser]]

+ * [[unsrig]]

+ * [[unsereiner]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|us]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}