1. The first personal pronoun _Ic_ is never found softened into _Ich_ as in
Laȝamon's Brut, the Ancren Riwle, and other Southern works. _I_ is found
only once or twice throughout the poem.
2. The first and second personal pronouns have a _dual_ as well as a plural
number; as, _wit_, we two; _unc_, us two; _gunc_, you two; _gunker_, of you
two.
3. _Hine_ (_hin_, _in_) (acc.) occasionally occurs, but more frequently
_him_ (dat.) does duty for it.
4. _Ge_, _ghe_,[53] she, represents the A.Sax. _héo_ (O.E. _heo_, _ho_, and
_hi_). The curious form _sge_ (= _sye_), as well as _sche_, occurs for she,
the earliest instance of which is _scæ_ in the A.Sax. Chronicle.
5. The neuter pronoun is written _it_ and not _hit_, and is frequently used
as a plural. It coalesces with the pronoun _ge_, _ghe_[54] (she), and with
the preterite of verbs terminating in _-de_ or _-te_,[55] and with some few
irregular verbs; as, _sagt_ (saw there), p. 37, l. 1301. The curious form
_negt_ (in l. 3964, p. 112) = _neg_ + _it_ = nigh it.
6. The A.Sax. _hi_ (they) is represented by _he_ = _hie_.[56] _He_ is
common enough in the Romance of Havelok the Dane.[57]
The pronouns, as has already been shown, coalesce with the plural (acc.)
_is_ (them), and give us the compounds _hes_, he + them; _wes_, we +
them;[58] mes = _me_ + _hes_ = one + them.[59]
Not satisfied with joining _he_ (they) to the pronoun _is_, the author of
this poem occasionally employs the more perplexing combination _hem_ = _he_
+ _hem_, he, them.
bred kalueſ fleiſ, and flures bred,
_Roasted calves' flesh, and flour-bread,_
And buttere, _hem_ ðo sondes bed,
_And butter, he them the messengers offered._—(l. 1014.)
In ſichem feld ne fonde _hem_ nogt,
_In Shechem field found he them not._—(l. 1933.)
Ðo ſette ſundri _hem_ to waken,
_Then set sundry he them to watch._—(l. 2551.)
ðo ſeide ðuſ quanne _hem_ cam dun,
_Then said thus when he to them came down._—(l. 4022.)
In l. 2673 _hem_ seems to stand for _he_ + _hem_, they + them.
And _hem_ ſeiden wið anſweren,[60]
_And they to them said in answer._
The Southern _me_, one (Fr. _on_), is absent from this poem as well as from
the Ormulum; its place is supplied by _man_ and _men_[61] used with a verb
in the singular number. _ðe_ is frequently used as a relative pronoun as
well as _ðat_, but uninflected; _quo_ (who), _quat_ (what), are
interrogative; _whether_ signifies which of two.