hij Dutch · revision 37056

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=891–900, Old Dutch|origins=gem-pro *hiz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɦɛi̯/, /i/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hij'''^(Wiktionary)

+ The enclitic form is ''ie'', as in ''daar gaat ie'', from Middle Dutch ''-i''.^(EWN)^(WNT)

+ Unlike ''me'' beside ''mij'' or ''we'' beside ''wij'', the pronoun has no unstressed form ''he''.^(EWN)

+ The undiphthongised ''hi'' lives on in several dialects, and Maastricht and Valkenburg have ''heer''.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|hi]], [[inh|odt|hē]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*hiʀ]], [[inh|gem-pro|*hiz]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(ONW) Old Dutch also has [[m|odt|hie]], and Middle Dutch occasionally [[m|dum|hie]] and [[m|dum|hē]].^(EWN) The same pronoun is [[osx|hē]], [[ofs|hi]] (modern [[fy|hy]]) and [[ang|hē]] (modern [[en|he]]), while [[goh|er]] (modern [[de|er]]), [[non|er]] (a relative particle) and [[got|𐌹𐍃|tr=is]] have no initial h.^(EWN)^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ According to the EWN, North Sea Germanic and parts of Middle Franconian put a particle [[gem-pro|*hī-|alt=*h(ī)-]], probably demonstrative in origin, before the old pronoun [[gem-pro|*iz]] (unstressed [[m|gem-pro|*ez]]), as they did in [[hem]], [[haar]] and [[hun]]; unstressed forms in the other Germanic languages lack it.^(EWN) Proto-Indo-European had no separate pronoun of the third person; the Germanic one comes from the demonstrative [[ine-pro|*h₁e]], whose masculine nominative is related to [[la|is|t=that]], [[sa|अयम्|tr=ayám]], [[lt|jis|t=he]] and [[sga|é|t=he]].^(EWN)^(Kroonen 2013) 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 [[ine-pro|*ḱei-]] and compares with [[grc|ἐκεῖ|tr=ekeî|t=there]] and [[la|cis|t=on this side]].^(WNT)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|164) De Vries finds it hard to say which ancestral forms the various Germanic forms go back to.^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ When stressed, the Middle Dutch pronoun had a long vowel, which was diphthongised to the modern form.^(EWN)

+

+ ==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”.^(ONW) 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”.^(ONW)^(EWN) In Middle Dutch ''hi'' is first found around 1200 in Limburg, still spelled ''he'' there.^(VMNW)

+

+ ==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'').^(WNT) 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”.^(WNT)

+

+ 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.^(WNT) The WNT, following Middle Dutch scholarship, takes this use back to a misunderstood Middle Dutch noun [[m|dum|hie|t=male animal]], already found around 1270.^(WNT)^(VMNW)

+

+ Afrikaans has [[m|af|hy]].^(Wiktionary) The pronoun also passed into Javindo and Petjo, and into Chinese Malay as ''hèy''.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 891–900 – Old Dutch ''ina'' “him” is recorded in a charm.^(ONW)

+ * 901–1000 – The subject form ''he'' appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * c. 1200 – Middle Dutch ''he'', ''hi'' is recorded in Limburg.^(VMNW)

+ * c. 1270 – The noun ''hie'' “male animal” is recorded.^(VMNW)

+ * 1564 – ''Hy ende ic'' “he and I” is quoted in the WNT.^(WNT)

+ * 1597 – ''Een hy en sy'' “a male and a female” shows the noun use.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|he]]: the subject form of the third person singular masculine, for male persons and animals and for things of masculine gender.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(WNT)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A male, a male being or animal: ''is het een hij of een zij?''^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)^(WNT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hijzelf]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hem]]

+ * [[hier]]

+ * [[het]]

+ * [[ie]]

+ * [[en|he]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}