-sen for -self in English: history and usage
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In my class there is a gentleman from the north of England who uses "-sen" instead of "-self" in such words as "himself" ("himsen") and "myself" ("mysen").
As far as I can tell, he always uses "-sen" in speech, it is not occasional.
I have never encountered this before and was wondering about its history/etymology and prevalence.
etymology pronouns dialects reflexives
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
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up vote
6
down vote
favorite
In my class there is a gentleman from the north of England who uses "-sen" instead of "-self" in such words as "himself" ("himsen") and "myself" ("mysen").
As far as I can tell, he always uses "-sen" in speech, it is not occasional.
I have never encountered this before and was wondering about its history/etymology and prevalence.
etymology pronouns dialects reflexives
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
In my class there is a gentleman from the north of England who uses "-sen" instead of "-self" in such words as "himself" ("himsen") and "myself" ("mysen").
As far as I can tell, he always uses "-sen" in speech, it is not occasional.
I have never encountered this before and was wondering about its history/etymology and prevalence.
etymology pronouns dialects reflexives
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
In my class there is a gentleman from the north of England who uses "-sen" instead of "-self" in such words as "himself" ("himsen") and "myself" ("mysen").
As far as I can tell, he always uses "-sen" in speech, it is not occasional.
I have never encountered this before and was wondering about its history/etymology and prevalence.
etymology pronouns dialects reflexives
etymology pronouns dialects reflexives
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
asked 4 hours ago
Au101
1,1681615
1,1681615
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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It appears to be a dialectal variant from East Midlands where:
Reflexive pronouns are characterized by the replacement of "self" with sen (from Middle English seluen):
Y'usen – Yourself,
Mesen – Myself,
Thisens – Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens – Ourselves
Example:
- We sh'll ay to do it ussens. (We shall have to do it ourselves.)
From (East Midlands English by Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robins)
as well as a Yorkshire variant:
The word self may become sen, e.g. yourself becomes thy sen, tha sen.
From (Petyt, Keith M. (1985), 'Dialect' and 'Accent' in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing)
(www.asgbi.org.uk)
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
6
down vote
It appears to be a dialectal variant from East Midlands where:
Reflexive pronouns are characterized by the replacement of "self" with sen (from Middle English seluen):
Y'usen – Yourself,
Mesen – Myself,
Thisens – Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens – Ourselves
Example:
- We sh'll ay to do it ussens. (We shall have to do it ourselves.)
From (East Midlands English by Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robins)
as well as a Yorkshire variant:
The word self may become sen, e.g. yourself becomes thy sen, tha sen.
From (Petyt, Keith M. (1985), 'Dialect' and 'Accent' in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing)
(www.asgbi.org.uk)
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
It appears to be a dialectal variant from East Midlands where:
Reflexive pronouns are characterized by the replacement of "self" with sen (from Middle English seluen):
Y'usen – Yourself,
Mesen – Myself,
Thisens – Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens – Ourselves
Example:
- We sh'll ay to do it ussens. (We shall have to do it ourselves.)
From (East Midlands English by Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robins)
as well as a Yorkshire variant:
The word self may become sen, e.g. yourself becomes thy sen, tha sen.
From (Petyt, Keith M. (1985), 'Dialect' and 'Accent' in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing)
(www.asgbi.org.uk)
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
up vote
6
down vote
It appears to be a dialectal variant from East Midlands where:
Reflexive pronouns are characterized by the replacement of "self" with sen (from Middle English seluen):
Y'usen – Yourself,
Mesen – Myself,
Thisens – Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens – Ourselves
Example:
- We sh'll ay to do it ussens. (We shall have to do it ourselves.)
From (East Midlands English by Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robins)
as well as a Yorkshire variant:
The word self may become sen, e.g. yourself becomes thy sen, tha sen.
From (Petyt, Keith M. (1985), 'Dialect' and 'Accent' in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing)
(www.asgbi.org.uk)
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
It appears to be a dialectal variant from East Midlands where:
Reflexive pronouns are characterized by the replacement of "self" with sen (from Middle English seluen):
Y'usen – Yourself,
Mesen – Myself,
Thisens – Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens – Ourselves
Example:
- We sh'll ay to do it ussens. (We shall have to do it ourselves.)
From (East Midlands English by Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robins)
as well as a Yorkshire variant:
The word self may become sen, e.g. yourself becomes thy sen, tha sen.
From (Petyt, Keith M. (1985), 'Dialect' and 'Accent' in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing)
(www.asgbi.org.uk)
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
edited 2 hours ago
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
answered 3 hours ago
user240918
24.6k1067147
24.6k1067147
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
add a comment |
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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