rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (03/22/85)
Did you know that the pronoun "'em" that occurs in spoken English
is not really derivative of the pronoun "them"?
In Middle English, the third person pronouns began with "h", as preserved
in Modern English "he", "him", "her", and "it" (where the initial "h" was lost).
The Modern English plural forms that begin with "th" ("they", "them", "their")
were actually a fusion of the Old Norse personal pronouns and the Old English
demonstrative pronoun (cf Modern "this", "that"). For example, "them" comes
from a fusion of Old Norse "theim" (a personal pronoun), and Old English "thaem"
(a demonstrative pronoun). (An aside: the confusion of demonstrative pronouns,
personal pronouns, and definite articles also occurs in the Romance languages.)
The unstressed equivalent of "them", written "'em", is really left over from the
earlier native form, not a shortening of the newer fused form. The loss of
the initial "h" is easily explained: "h" is often unpronounced in English
when before an unstressed syllable. For example we say "a history book"
but "an historic event", where the "h" is not pronounced unless you are
speaking self-consciously.
--
Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
{ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob
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