Proto-Indo-European pronouns
Proto-Indo-European pronouns have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. The following article lists and discusses their hypothesized forms.
PIE pronouns are difficult to reconstruct due to their variety in later languages. This is especially the case for demonstrative pronouns.
Personal pronouns
PIE had personal pronouns in the first and second person, but not the third person, where demonstratives were used instead. They were inflected for case and number (singular, dual, and plural). The personal pronouns had their own unique forms and endings, and some had two distinct stems; this is most obvious in the first person singular, where the two stems are still preserved in English I and me. There were also two varieties for the accusative, genitive and dative cases, a stressed and an enclitic form. Many of the special pronominal endings were later borrowed as nominal endings.
The following tables give the paradigms as reconstructed by Beekes[1] and by Sihler[2].
| Personal pronouns (Beekes) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | ||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | *h₁eǵ(oH/Hom) | *uei | *tuH | *iuH | |
| Accusative | stressed | *h₁mé | *nsmé | *tué | *usmé |
| enclitic | *h₁me | *nōs | ? | *uōs | |
| Genitive | stressed | *h₁méne | *ns(er)o- | *teue | *ius(er)o- |
| enclitic | *h₁moi | *nos | *toi | *uos | |
| Dative | stressed | *h₁méǵʰio | *nsmei | *tébʰio | *usmei |
| enclitic | *h₁moi | *ns | *toi | ? | |
| Instrumental | *h₁moí | ? | *toí | ? | |
| Ablative | *h₁med | *nsmed | *tued | *usmed | |
| Locative | *h₁moí | *nsmi | *toí | *usmi | |
| Personal pronouns (Sihler) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | ||||||
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
| Nominative | *eǵoH | *weh₁ | *we-i | *tī̆ (*tū̆) | *yuh₁ (*yūh₁?) | *yūs (*yuHs?) | |
| Accusative | tonic | *m-mé (> *mé) | *n ̥h₁-wé | *n̥smé | *twé | *uh₁-wé | *usmé |
| enclitic | *me | *nō̆h₁ | *nō̆s | *te | *wō̆h₁ | *wō̆s | |
| Genitive | tonic | *mé-me | *n̥sóm | *té-we | *usóm | ||
| enclitic | *mos (adj.) | *nō̆s | *tos (adj.) | *wō̆s | |||
| Dative | tonic | *mébhi | *n̥sm-éy | *tébhi | *usm-éy | ||
| enclitic | *mey, *moy? | *nō̆s | *tey, *toy | *wō̆s | |||
| Ablative | *mm-ét (> *mét) | *n̥sm-ét | *tw-ét | *usm-ét | |||
Other reconstructions typically differ only slightly from Beekes and Sihler (see for example Fortson 2004[3]).
Demonstrative pronouns
As for demonstratives, Beekes[4] tentatively reconstructs a system with only two pronouns: *so "this, that" and *h₁e "the (just named)" (anaphoric, reconstructed as *ei- by Fortson[5]). He gives the following paradigms:
| Demonstrative pronouns (Beekes) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Masculine | Neutre | Feminine | Masculine | Neutre | Feminine | |
| Nominative | *so | *tod | *seh₂ | *toi | *teh₂ | *seh₂i?? |
| Accusative | *tóm | *teh₂m | *tons | *teh₂ns | ||
| Genitive | *(to)sio | *(t)eseh₂s | *tesom? | *tesom? | ||
| Ablative | *tosmōd | *toios? | ||||
| Dative | *tosmōi | *tesieh₂ei | *toimus | *teh₂mus? | ||
| Locative | *tosmi | *tesieh₂i | *toisu | *teh₂su? | ||
| Instrumental | *toi? | *toi? | *toibʰi | *teh₂bʰi? | ||
| Nominative | *h₁e | *(h₁)id | *(h₁)ih₂ | *h₁ei | *ih₂ | *ih₂es |
| Accusative | *im | *ih₂m | *ins | *ih₂ns | ||
| Genitive | *h₁éso | *h₁eseh₂s? | *h₁es(om) | |||
| Ablative | *h₁esmōd | *h₁eios? | ||||
| Dative | *h₁esmōi | *h₁esieh₂ei | *h₁eimus | |||
| Locative | *h₁esmi | *h₁esieh₂i | *h₁eisu | |||
| Instrumental | *h₁ei? | *h₁eibʰi | ||||
Beekes also postulates three adverbial particles, from which demonstratives were constructed in various later languages:
- *ḱi "here" (reconstructed as a demonstrative *ḱi- "this" by Fortson[5] and as *ḱo-s (m), *ḱo-h₂ (f), *ḱo-d (n) by other scholars[who?]),
- *h₂en "there" and
- *h₂eu "away, again",
Reflexive pronoun
A third-person reflexive pronoun *s(w)e-, parallel to the first and second person singular personal pronouns, also existed, though it lacked a nominative form:
| Reflexive pronoun[citation needed] | |
|---|---|
| Accusative | *se |
| Genitive | *sewe, *sei |
| Dative | *sébʰio, *soi |
Relative pronoun
PIE had a relative pronoun with the stem *(H)yo-.[6][7]
Interrogative/indefinite pronoun
There was also a pronoun with the stem *kʷe- / kʷi- (adjectival *kʷo-) used both as an interrogative and an indefinite pronoun.[5][8]
| Interrogative pronoun (Sihler[9]) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pronominal | Adjectival | |||||||||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||||||||
| Masc./Fem. | Neutre | Masc./Fem. | Neutre | Masculine | Neutre | Feminine | Masculine | Neutre | Feminine | |||
| Nominative | *kʷis | *kʷid | *kʷeyes | *kʷih₂ | *kʷos | *kʷod | *kʷeh₂ | *kʷoy | *kʷeh₂ | *kʷeh₂(e)s | ||
| Accusative | *kʷim | *kʷims | *kʷom | *kʷeh₂m | *kʷoms | *kʷeh₂ms | ||||||
| Dative | *kʷesmey | *kʷeybh- | *kʷosmey | |||||||||
| Genitive | *kʷesyo | *kʷeysom | *kʷosyo | |||||||||
| Locative | *kʷesmi | *kʷeysu | ||||||||||
Pronominal adjectives
The reconstructed word for "(an)other" is *alyo-[5] (*e₂lyo-?).
Possessive pronominal adjectives have also been reconstructed.[citation needed]
Reflexes
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2008) |
| Type | Reconstruction | Reflexes |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. nom. | *eǵoH | Hitt. ūk, Ved. ahám, Av. azəm, Gk. egō(n), Lat. ego, Goth. ik,[10]
Eng. Ic/I, Gm. ih/ich, Russ. ja, Kamviri õc, Carian uk, Osset. æz/æz, Umb. eho, ON ek, Lith. aš, Venet. ego[citation needed] |
| 1st sg. oblique | *me | Ved. mām, Av. mąm, Gk. emé, Lat. mē,[10]
Osset. mæn, Umb. mehe, Ir. mé/mé, Welsh mi, Russ. mne, Alb. mua, Venet. mego[citation needed] |
| 1st pl. nom. | *we-i | Hitt. wēš, Ved. vayám, Av. vaēm, Goth. wit (dual), weis, Toch. was/wes,[10]
Pers. vayam/?, ON vit;vér, Lith. vedu[citation needed] |
| 1st pl. oblique | *nō̆s | Hitt. anzāš, Gk. nō (dual), Lat. nōs, Goth. ugkis (dual), uns, Toch. ñäś (sg.),[10]
Skr. nas, Av. nō, Pers. amaxām/?, ON oss, okkr, Ir. ni, Welsh ni, OPruss. noūson, Lith. nuodu, Pol. nas, Russ. nas, Alb. ne[citation needed] |
| 2nd sg. | *tī̆ (*tū̆) / *te | Hitt. tuk, Ved. tvám, Av. tū, Gk. sú, Doric tú, Lat. tū, Goth. þu, Toch. tu/tuwe, OCS ty[11]
Pers. tuva/to, Osset. dy, Kashmiri tsū', Kamviri tü, Umb. tu, tui, Osc. tuvai, ON þú, Ir. tú/tú, Welsh ti, Arm. tu/du, OPruss. toū, Pol. ty, Russ. ty, Lith. tu, Ltv. tu, Alb. ti[citation needed] |
| 2nd pl. nom. | *yū(H)s | Ved. yūyám, Av. yūš, Gk. humeis, Goth. jūs, Toch. yas/yes,[11]
Eng. gē/ye; ēow/you, Gm. ir/ihr, ON ykkr, yðr, Arm. dzez/dzez/cez, OPruss. ioūs, Lith. jūs, Ltv. jūs, Alb. juve, ju[citation needed] |
| 2nd pl. oblique | *wō̆s | Lat. vōs,[11]
Skr. vas, Av. vō, Umb. uestra, OPruss. wans, Pol. wy, was, Russ. vy, vas[citation needed] |
| Demonstrative ("this, that") | *so (m), *se-h₂ (f), *to-d (n) | Ved. sá, sā, tád, Av. hō, hā, tat̰, Gk. ho, hē, tó, Goth. sa, so, þata, TochB. se, sā, te[5]
Old Eng. se, seo, thæt, Russ. to[citation needed] |
| Demonstrative ("the just named; this") | *h₁e / *ei- | Ved. ay-ám, id-ám, Av. īm "him", Lat. is, ea, id, Goth. is "he"[5]
Skr. it[citation needed] |
| Demonstrative / adverbial particle | *ḱi(-) | Lat. cis, Eng. he/he, Gm. hiu-tagu/heute "on this day, today", OCS sĭ, Lith. šìs,[5]
ON hér, Goth. hita, Eng. hit/it, Gm. hiar/hier, Russ. eto[citation needed] |
| Reflexive | *s(w)e- | Ved. sva-yám, Av. xᵛāi, Gk. hé, Lat. sē, sibi, suus, Ir. fa(-dessin)/?, OCS sę,[5]
Gm. sih/sich, sin/sein, Carian sfes, Lyd. śfa-, Osc. sífeí, Umb. seso, ON sik, sinn, Goth. sik, Arm. ink῾s, OPruss. sien, sin, Lith. savo, Latv. sevi, Russ. sebe, -sja, Alb. vetë, Phryg. ve[citation needed] |
| Relative | *(H)yo- | Ved. yá-, Av. ya-, Gk. hó-, Proto-Celtic *yo-[5] |
| Interrogative pronoun | *kʷi-s (m, f), *kʷi-d (n) | Hitt. kuiš, Luw. kuiš, Gk. tís, Lat. quis, quid, Ir. cia, Eng. hwī/–, OCS čĭto[5]
Lyc. tike, Lyd. qi-, Osset. či, Pers. čiy/ki, Osc. pisi, Umb. púí, svepis, ON hverr, Welsh pwi[citation needed] |
| Interrogative adjective | *kʷo-s (m), *kʷe-h₂ (f), *kʷo-d (n) | Ved. kás, Av. kō, Gk. poũ "where?", pōs "somehow", Goth. ƕas, Lith. kàs, OCS kŭto[5]
Eng. hwā/who; hwæt/what, Gm. hwër/wer, Carian kuo, Kashmiri kus, Kamviri kâča, Lat. qui, quae, quod; Arm. ov, inč῾, Toch. kus/kŭse, Ltv. kas, Pol. kto, Russ. kto, Alb. kush, Phryg. kos[citation needed] |
| "(an)other" | *alyo- | Gk. állos, Lat. alius, Goth. aljis, Ir. ail/eile, Toch. ālak/alyek,[5]
Gm. eli-lenti "in another land, expelled" / elend "miserable, wretched"[12], Eng. elles/else, Lyd. aλaś, Skr. araṇa, Osc. allo, ON elligar, Gaul. alla, Arm. ayl[citation needed] |
In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean:
- English: Old English / Modern English
- German: Old High German / New High German
- Irish: Old Irish / Modern Irish
- Persian: Old Persian / Modern Persian
- Tocharian: Tocharian A / Tocharian B
Notes
- ^ Beekes (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ Sihler (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ Fortson (2004:127–9)
- ^ Beekes (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fortson (2004:130)
- ^ Sihler (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ Beekes (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ Sihler (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ Sihler (1995:[, page needed], )
- ^ a b c d Fortson (2004:127)
- ^ a b c Fortson (2004:128)
- ^ Grebe (1963:[, page needed], )
References
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (1995), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, ISBN 1-55619-505-1
{{citation}}: Check|isbn=value: checksum (help) - Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004), Indo-European Language and Culture, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0316-7
- Grebe, Paul (1963), Duden Etymologie (in German), Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut, ISBN 3-411-00907-1
- Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508345-8