wir German · revision 35403

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /viːɐ̯/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Colloquial: /vɐ/, /mɐ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''wir''' (personal pronoun, first person plural; genitive ''unser'', dative and accusative ''uns'')^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ Middle High German also had the forms ''wër'', ''wier'' and ''mir''.^(Lexer 1872|3, 925)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|wir]], [[inh|goh|wir]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*wiʀ]], [[inh|gem-pro|*wīz|t=we]].^(Kluge 2011|991)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[got|𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃|tr=weis]], [[non|vér]], [[ang|wē]], [[osx|wī]] and [[ofs|wī]], and it lives on in [[nl|wij]], [[en|we]] and [[sv|vi]].^(Kluge 2011|991)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ Pfeifer reconstructs a long-vowelled form, kept in Gothic and Old Saxon, and a shortened [[m|gem-pro|*wiz]] behind the other forms.^(Pfeifer 1993) The final /r/ of the High German form continues Germanic /z/, which Old Saxon, Old English and the other languages of the north and west lost.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|30, 523)

+

+ Outside Germanic, Pfeifer compares [[hit|wēš]], [[txb|wes]], [[xto|was]] and [[ae|vaēm]] “we”, and traces them to a stem [[ine-pro|*u̯ei-]] with a plural ending.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Orel 2003) Kluge accepts this source only for the long Gothic form; he doubts that the short form is merely a shortening of it, and compares it rather with [[ine-pro|*mes]], found in Baltic and Armenian, which would require an alternation of /m/ and /w/ at the start of the word.^(Kluge 2011|991)

+

+ Beside the plural, the older Germanic languages had a dual, [[got|𐍅𐌹𐍄|tr=wit]], [[osx|wit]] and [[ang|wit]] “we two”; in German it was replaced by the plural and is no longer recorded in Old High German.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(DWB|30, 523)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''wir'' is recorded from the 8th century.^(Kluge 2011|991)^(Pfeifer 1993) It is used throughout the Old High German texts, among them the Isidor translation, the Benedictine Rule, the Freising Paternoster, Otfrid and Tatian, meaning “we”, and in relative phrases ''wir thār'', ''wir thie'' “we who”.^(Schützeichel 2012|393)^(Köbler AHD)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle High German, Upper German had ''wir'' and Low German ''wē'' or ''wī''; in Central German ''wir'' spread as the written form and often displaced the dialect form ''wi''.^(DWB|30, 523) Southern dialects say ''mir'' for ''wir'', a form recorded from the 15th century.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ Writers have used ''wir'' for themselves as a formula of modesty since 1548.^(Paul 2002) Adelung describes the princely ''Wir'', by which rulers spoke of themselves in the plural, and explains it not as a mark of dignity but as a remnant of rulers' former dependence on their subjects.^(Adelung 1793|4, 1570) Today the pronoun can also replace ''du'', ''ihr'' or ''Sie'' in a familiar address, especially to children and patients.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''wir'' is first recorded.^(Kluge 2011|991)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 15th century – The southern dialect form ''mir'' “we” appears.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1548 – First record of ''wir'' used by an author for himself as a formula of modesty.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|we|alt=We]]: the speaker together with one or more other people.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(pluralis modestiae)'' Used by an author or speaker for himself or herself: “I”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(pluralis majestatis)'' Used by a ruler of himself, written with a capital: ''Wir''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(familiar, dated)'' Used instead of ''du'', ''ihr'' or ''Sie'' in addressing someone, especially children and [[m|en|patient|alt=patients]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[unser]]

+ * [[en|we]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}