Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/69

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THE DAWN
45
Masc. Fem. Neut.
Sing.— N. ei-s = hi ijô-s ija
Acc. i-ns = hi ijô-s ija
Gen. i-zê = hira i-zo i-zê
Dat. i-m = him i-m i-m

The A.S. has but one set of forms for plural. Lowland Scots has preserved hit. Morris says, "Hine = him is still retained , in the Southern dialect, as 'I seed en.' Shee and thay do not occur in any pure Southern writer before a.d. 1387." Our plurals here are borrowed from the demonstrative. "Thai (they), thair, thaim are Northern forms, and are not used by Southern writers" (Morris). We use the original forms colloquially in such phrases as "Give 'em it," for the personal him not them. The A.S. forms accompany here the Gothic:—

Masc. Fem. Neut.
Sing.— N. sa = se = seo tha-ta = thaet
Acc. tha-na = thone thô = thâ tha-ta = thaet
Gen. thi-s = thaes thi-zôs = thaere thi-s = thaes
Dat. tha-mma = tham thi-zai = thaere tha-mma = thâm
Plur.— N. thai = thâ thô-s thô
Acc. tha-ns = thâ thô-s thô
Gen. thi-ze = thâra thi-zo thi-zê
Dat. thai-m = thâm thai-m thi-m

It will be noticed in the above forms that Go. z becomes the modern r according to rule. Of these Gothic forms Scots preserves thone for acc. sing, and thai for plurals, as "thai books." The neut. sing. that it uses as the definite article both singular and (in Aberdeenshire) plural. The remoter demonstrative, those is thirr. By the addition of uh or h, an enclitic cognate with Lat. -que, the strong form of the Go. demonstrative is formed. Similarly both personals and demonstratives become relatives by the addition -ei, also used independently as a connective. Lastly, an old pronominal stem, hi = this, survives only in certain adverbial phrases, himma daga = to-day, fram himma = henceforth, und hina dag = to this day, und hita nu — till now, hitherto.