The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.
Religion
The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.
Bible. Exodus -- History of Biblical events -- Poetry; Bible. Genesis -- History of Biblical events -- Poetry; Christian poetry, English (Middle)
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.
TABLE OF PRONOUNS.
SINGULAR.
Nom. Ic, I ðu
Gen. min ðin
Dat. me ðe
Acc. me ðe
DUAL. PLURAL. DUAL. PLURAL.
Nom. wit we —— ge
Gen. —— ure gunker gure
Dat. —— us —— gu
Acc. unc us gunc gu
SINGULAR.
Nom. He ge, ghe (sge, sche) It
Gen. His Hire Is, His
Dat. Him Hire It
Acc. { Hin } Hire It
{ Him }
PLURAL.
Masc. Neut. Interrogative.
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