him
Translingual
English
Etymology
From Middle English him, from Old English him, from Proto-Germanic *himmai (“to this, to this one”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian him (“him”), West Frisian him (“him”), Sylt North Frisian ham, höm (“him”), Dutch hem (“him”), German Low German hum, hüm, em (“him”), German ihm (“him”, dative).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
him (personal pronoun, objective case)
- A masculine pronoun; he as a grammatical object.
- With dative effect or as an indirect object. [from 9th c.]
- 1529, John Frith, A piſtle to the Chriſten reader […] :
- […] therfoꝛ Chꝛiſt wold not call him abominable / But the verye abomination it ſilf.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
- ‘I promise,’ he said as I gave him the papers.
- Following a preposition. [from 9th c.]
- 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
- She was in no humour for conversation with anyone but himself; and to him she had hardly courage to speak.
- With accusative effect or as a direct object. [from 12th c.]
- 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
- ‘He's got it buttoned in his breast. I saw him put it there.’
- With dative effect or as an indirect object. [from 9th c.]
- (colloquial) As a grammatical subject or object when joined with a conjunction.
- Now him and Bernie are best friends.
- Released a [statement] warning that him and 25,000 troops were going to stage a coup.
- (now rare) Used reflexively: (to) himself. [from 9th c.]
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
- Apon a daye apoynted, the kynge arayed hym in royall apparell, and set hym in his seate, and made an oracion unto them.
- 1765, Oliver Goldsmith, The traveller, or, A prospect of society:
- Though poor the peasant’s hut, his feasts though small,
He sees his little lot the lot of all;
[...]
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil.
- With nominative effect: he, especially as a predicate after be, or following a preposition. [from 15th c.]
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene x]:
- Before my body, I throw my warlike Shield: Lay on Macduffe, And damn'd be him, that first cries hold, enough.
- 2003 June 11, Claire Cozens, The Guardian:
- Lowe quit the West Wing last year amid rumours that he was unhappy that his co-stars earned more than him.
- (slang) A person of elevated skill at a sport, game, or other activity.
- Stop trying that, you're not him bro.
- Bro thinks he's him.
- 2023 October 25, u/baggypantsman, “Super Mario 64 - 0 Star in 6:16 by Suigi”, in Reddit, r/speedrun, archived from the original on 23 December 2023:
- Watched this one live, he randomly got it less than an hour into the stream while derusting for PACE. He's just him.
Translations
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See also
Noun
him (plural hims)
- (informal) A male person or animal.
- Synonym: he
- I think this bird is a him, but it may be a her.
- 1985, Hélène Cixous, Sorties (translated)
- […] daring dizzying passages in other, fleeting and passionate dwellings within the hims and hers whom she inhabits […]
- 2004, Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel:
- Both hims took a good look at him.
- 2004, Charles J. Sullivan, Love and Survival, page 68:
- By this time, she had so many questions, but she only hit him up for one answer about those “hims” and “hers.” She asked, “Do both hims and hers reproduce hummers?”
References
- “Bro Thinks He's Him / I'm Him”, in Know Your Meme, launched 2007
Anagrams
Gayón
References
- Luis Oramas, Materiales para el estudio de los dialectos Ayamán, Gayón, Jirajara, Ajagua (1916)
Irish
Luxembourgish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /him/
Audio (file)
Pronoun
him
Usage notes
- For the use of the neuter for referring to female persons, see hatt.
Declension
nominative | accusative | dative | reflexive | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
str. | unstr. | str. | unstr. | str. | unstr. | ||||
1st person singular | ech | — | mech | — | mir | mer | like dat. and acc. | ||
2nd person singular (informal) |
du | de | dech | — | dir | der | like dat. and acc. | ||
2nd person singular (formal) |
Dir | Der | Iech | Iech [əɕ] | Iech | Iech [əɕ] | Iech | ||
3rd person singular | m | hien | en | hien | en | him | em | sech | |
f | si | se | si | se | hir | er | sech | ||
n | hatt | et ('t) | hatt | et ('t) | him | em | sech | ||
1st person plural | mir | mer | eis (ons) | — | eis (ons) | — | eis (ons) | ||
2nd person plural | dir | der | iech | iech [əɕ] | iech | iech [əɕ] | iech | ||
3rd person plural | si | se | si | se | hinnen | en | sech |
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English him. Originally a dative form; gradually displaced accusative hine.
Pronoun
him (nominative he)
- Third-person singular masculine pronoun indicating a grammatical object: him.
- (reflexive) himself.
- c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39), folio 34, recto, lines 36-37; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:
- Stille þou be peter. Wel i þe icnowe. / þou wolt fur ſake me þrien . ar þe coc him crowe.
- "Quiet now, Peter. I know you well; / You'll forsake me three times when the cock crows (himself)."
- Third-person singular neuter pronoun indicating a grammatical object: it.
- (impersonal) Third-person singular neuter pronoun indicating a grammatical object one, you.
See also
nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | possessive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | 1st-person | I, ich, ik | me | min mi1 | min | ||
2nd-person | þou | þe | þin þi1 | þin | |||
3rd-person | m | he | him hine2 | him | his | his hisen | |
f | sche, heo | hire heo |
hire | hire hires, hiren | |||
n | hit | hit him2 | his, hit | — | |||
dual3 | 1st-person | wit | unk | unker | |||
2nd-person | ȝit | inc | inker | ||||
plural | 1st-person | we | us, ous | oure | oure oures, ouren | ||
2nd-person4 | ye | yow | your | your youres, youren | |||
3rd-person | inh. | he | hem he2 | hem | here | here heres, heren | |
bor. | þei | þem, þeim | þeir | þeir þeires, þeiren |
1Used preconsonantally or before h.
2Early or dialectal.
3Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English.
4Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
References
- “him, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 6 May 2018.
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /him/
Saterland Frisian
Etymology
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hɪm/
See also
References
- Marron C. Fort (2015) “him”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian him, from Proto-Germanic *himmai.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hɪm/
- (unstressed) IPA(key): /(ə)m/
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English him, from Old English him.
Pronoun
him
- him
- 1867, “SONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 108:
- Shoo zent him o' die.
- She sent him one day.
- 1867, “SONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 108:
- Shoo zent him anoor die a gozleen to keep;
- She sent him another day the goslings to keep;
Derived terms
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 108