Hit (IPA: /hɪt/) was the neuter, third-person, singular, personal pronoun (subject case) in Old English.
This word would probably have sounded something like Modern English heat.
Dutch and Frisian 'ik' and Afrikaans 'ek' are closely related, but only Frisian is pronounced similar to the Middle English pronoun.[1]
| Nom | Acc | Dat | Gen | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sing | ic | me(c) | me | min | |
| Dual | wit | unc | uncer | |||
| Plur | we | us | ure | |||
| 2nd | Sing | þu | þe | þin | ||
| Dual | git | inc | incer | |||
| Plur | ge | eow | eower | |||
| 3rd | Sing | M | he | hine | him | his |
| N | hit | hit | him | his | ||
| F | heo | hie | hire | hire | ||
| Plur | hie | hie | him | hira | ||
| Nom | Acc | Dat | Gen | |||
Etymology
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Object | Possessive | Subject | Object | Possessive | ||
| First | I | me | mi(n) | we | us | ure | |
| Second | thou | thee | thy | ye | you | your | |
| Third | Impersonal | hit | it/him | his | he they |
hem them |
hir their |
| Masculine | he | him | his | ||||
| Feminine | sche | hire | hir | ||||
External links
- Peter S. Baker. 'Pronouns'. In Peter S. Baker. The Electronic Introduction to Old English. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003, c. 5.
