THE RELATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, AND CERTAIN OTHER PRONOUNS.
§ 234. In the relative and interrogative pronouns, _who_, _what_, _whom_,
_whose_, we have, expressed by a change of form, a neuter gender, _what_; a
dative case _whom_; and a genitive case, _whose_: the true power of the s
(viz., as the sign of a case) being obscured by the orthographical addition
of the e mute.
To these may be added, 1. the adverb _why_, originally the ablative form
_hvi_ (_quo modo?_ _quâ viâ?_). 2. The adverb _where_, a feminine dative,
like _there_. 3. _When_, a masculine accusative (in Anglo-Saxon _hwæne_),
and analogous to _then_.
The two sounds in the Danish words _hvi_, _hvad_, &c., and the two sounds
in the English, _what_, _when_ (Anglo-Saxon, _hwæt_, _hwæne_) account for
the forms _why_ and _how_. In the first the w alone, in the second the h
alone, is sounded. The Danish for _why_ is _hvi_, pronounced _vi_.
§ 235. The following remarks (some of them not strictly etymological) apply
to a few of the remaining pronouns.
_Same_.--Wanting in Anglo-Saxon, where it was replaced by the word _ylca_,
_ylce_. Probably derived from the Norse.
_Self_.--In _myself_, _thyself_, _herself_, _ourselves_, _yourselves_, a
substantive (or with a substantival power), and preceded by a genitive
case. In _himself_ and _themselves_ an adjective (or with an adjectival
power), and preceded by an accusative case. _Itself_ is equivocal, since we
cannot say whether its elements are _it_ and _self_, or _its_ and _self_;
the s having been dropped in utterance. It is very evident that either the
form like _himself_, or the form like _thyself_, is exceptionable; in other
words, that the use of the word is inconsistent. As this inconsistency is
as old as the Anglo-Saxons, the history of the word gives us no
elucidation. In favour of the forms like _myself_ (_self_ being a
substantive), are the following facts:--
1. The plural word _selves_, a substantival, and not an adjectival form.
2. The Middle High German phrases _mîn lîp_, _dîn lîp_, _my body_, _thy
body_, equivalent in sense to _myself_, _thyself_.
3. The circumstance that if _self_ be dealt with as a substantive, such
phrases as _my own self_, _his own great self_, &c., can be used; whereby
the language is a gainer.
"Vox _self_, pluraliter _selves_, quamvis etiam pronomen a quibusdam
censeatur (quoniam ut plurimum per Latinum _ipse_ redditur), est tamen
plane nomen substantivum, cui quidem vix aliquod apud Latinos substantivum
respondet; proxime tamen accedet vox _persona_ vel _propria persona_ ut _my
self_, _thy self_, _our selves_, _your selves_, &c. (_ego ipse_, _tu ipse_,
_nos ipsi_, _vos ipsi_, &c.), ad verbum _mea persona_, _tua persona_, &c.
Fateor tamen _himself_, _itself_, _themselves_, vulgo dici pro _his-self_,
_its-self_, _theirselves_; at (interposito _own_) _his own self_, &c.,
_ipsius propria persona_, &c."--Wallis. c. vii.
4. The fact that many persons actually say _hisself_ and _theirselves_.
_Whit_.--As in the phrase _not a whit_. This enters in the compound
pronouns _aught_ and _naught_.
_One_.--As in the phrase _one does so and so_. From the French _on_.
Observe that this is from the Latin _homo_, in Old French _hom_, _om_. In
the Germanic tongues _man_ is used in the same sense: _man sagt_ = _one
says_ = _on dit_. _One_, like _self_ and _other_, is so far a substantive,
that it is inflected. Gen. sing, _one's own self_: plural, _my wife and
little ones are well_.
_Derived pronouns._--_Any_, in Anglo-Saxon, _ænig_. In Old High German we
have _einîc_ = _any_, and _einac_ = _single_. In Anglo-Saxon _ânega_ means
_single_. In Middle High German _einec_ is always single. In New High
German _einig_ means, 1. _a certain person_ (_quidam_), 2. _agreeing_;
_einzig_, meaning _single_. In Dutch _ênech_ has both meanings. This
indicates the word _án_, _one_, as the root of the word in question.
_Compound pronouns._--_Which_, as has been already stated more than once,
is most incorrectly called the neuter of _who_. Instead of being a neuter,
it is a compound word. The adjective _leiks_, _like_, is preserved in the
Moeso-Gothic words _galeiks_ and _missaleiks_. In Old High German the form
is _lih_, in Anglo-Saxon _lic_. Hence we have Moeso-Gothic _hvêleiks_; Old
High German, _huëlih_; Anglo-Saxon, _huilic_ and _hvilc_; Old Frisian,
_hwelik_; Danish, _hvilk-en_; German, _welch_; Scotch, _whilk_; English,
_which_. The same is the case with--
1. _Such_.--Moeso-Gothic, _svaleiks_; Old High German, _sôlîh_; Old Saxon,
_sulîc_; Anglo-Saxon, _svilc_; German, _solch_; English, _such_. Rask's
derivation of the Anglo-Saxon _swilc_ from _swa-ylc_, is exceptionable.
2. _Thilk_.--An old English word, found in the provincial dialects, as
_thick_, _thuck_, _theck_, and hastily derived by Tyrwhitt, Ritson, and
Weber, from _së ylca_, is found in the following forms: Moeso-Gothic,
_þéleiks_; Norse, _þvilikr_.
3. _Ilk_.--Found in the Scotch, and always preceded by the article; _the
ilk_, or _that ilk_, meaning _the same_. In Anglo-Saxon this word is
_ycla_, preceded also by the article _se ylca_, _seó ylce_, _þæt ylce_. In
English, as seen above, the word is replaced by _same_. In no other Gothic
dialect does it occur. According to Grimm, this is no simple word, but a
compound one, of which some such word as _ei_ is the first, and _lîc_ the
second element.
_Aught_.--In Moeso-Gothic is found the particle, _aiv_, _ever_, but only in
negative propositions; _ni_ (_not_) preceding it. Its Old High German form
is _êo_, _io_; in Middle High German, _ie_; in New High German, _je_; in
Old Saxon, _io_; in Anglo-Saxon, â; in Norse, æ. Combined with this
particle the word _whit_ (_thing_) gives the following forms: Old High
German, _êowiht_; Anglo-Saxon, _âviht_; Old Frisian, _âwet_; English
_aught_. The word _naught_ is _aught_ preceded by the negative particle.
_Each_.--The particle _gi_ enters, like the particle in the composition of
pronouns. Old High German, _êogalîher_, every one; _êocalih_, all; Middle
High German, _iegelich_; New High German, _jeglich_; Anglo-Saxon, _ælc_;
English, _each_; the l being dropped, as in _which_ and _such_. _Ælc_, as
the original of the English _each_ and the Scotch _ilka_,[51] must by no
means be confounded with the word _ylce_, _the same_.
_Every_ in Old English, _everich_, _everech_, _everilk one_, is _ælc_,
preceded by the particle _ever_. (Grimm. D. G. iii. 54.)
_Either_.--Old High German, _êogahuëdar_; Middle High German, _iegewëder_;
Anglo-Saxon, _æghväðer_, _ægðer_; Old Frisian, _eider_.
_Neither_.--The same with the negative article prefixed. _Neither_ :
_either_ :: _naught_ : _aught_.
§ 236. _Other_, _whether_.--These words, although derived forms, being
simpler than some that have preceded, might fairly have been dealt with
before. They make, however, a transition from the present to the succeeding
chapter, and so find a place here.
A. _First_, it may be stated of them that the idea which they express is
not that of _one out of many_, but that of _one out of two_.
1. In Sanscrit there are two forms, a) _kataras_, the same word as
_whether_, meaning _which out of two_; b) _katamas, which out of many_. So
also _êkateras, one out of two_; _êkatamas, one out of many_. In Greek the
Ionic form [Greek: koteros (poteros]; in Latin, _uter_, _neuter_, _alter_;
and in Moeso-Gothic, _hvathar_, have the same form and the same meaning.
2. In the Scandinavian language the word _anden_, Dano-Saxon, _annar_,
Iceland. corresponds to the English word _second_, and not the German
_zweite_: e.g., _Karl den Anden, Charles the Second_. Now _anthar_ is the
older form of _other_.
B. _Secondly_, it may be stated of them, that the termination -er is the
same termination that we find in the comparative degree.
1. The idea expressed by the comparative degree is the comparison, not of
_many_ but of _two_ things; _this is better than that_.
2. In all the Indo-European languages where there are pronouns in -ter,
there is also a comparative degree in -ter. See next chapter.
3. As the Sanscrit form _kataras_ corresponds with the comparative degree,
where there is the comparison of _two things with each other_; so the word
_katamas_ is a superlative form; and in the superlative degree lies the
comparison of _many_ things with each other.
Hence _other_ and _whether_ (to which may be added _either_ and _neither_)
are pronouns with the comparative form.
_Other_ has the additional peculiarity of possessing the plural form
_others_. Hence, like _self_, it is, in the strictest sense, a substantival
pronoun.
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