þeiren

Middle English

Alternative forms

theiren, þaren, tharen

Etymology

From þeir, with influence from min and þin. Compare heren.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈθɛi̯rən/, /ˈðɛi̯rən/[1][2]

Pronoun

þeiren (nominative þei)

Third-person plural genitive pronoun: theirs[3]

Synonyms

þeires

Descendants

English: theirn, their'n

			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
dual³	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
	3rd-person	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

Brink, Daniel (1992), “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, DOI:10.1515/9783110856446.21, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
Thurber, Beverly A. (15 February 2011), “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, DOI:10.1017/S147054271000005X, pages 65-81.
“theiren, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 June 2018.

[1] Brink, Daniel (1992), “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, DOI:10.1515/9783110856446.21, →ISBN, pages 21-35.

[2] Thurber, Beverly A. (15 February 2011), “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, DOI:10.1017/S147054271000005X, pages 65-81.

[3] “theiren, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 June 2018.