þi

See also: thi

Middle English

Etymology 1

An apocopic form of þin, þine, thyn, from Old English þīn, from Proto-West Germanic *þīn, from Proto-Germanic *þīnaz.

Alternative forms

they, thi, thy, ti, ty, þei, þey, þhi, þy, yi, yhi

Pronunciation

(stressed) IPA^(key): /θiː/, /ðiː/
(unstressed) IPA^(key): /ði/[1][2]
(after /t/, /d/, especially early) IPA^(key): /tiː/, /ti/

Determiner

þi (nominative pronoun þou)

second-person singular possessive determiner: thy, your[3]

Usage notes

When followed by a word starting with a vowel or h-, þin or one of its variants is typically used.

Descendants

English: thy
Yola: thee, th'

			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.
“thin, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Determiner

þi

(Northern) Alternative form of þe (“the”)

Pronoun

þi

Alternative form of þe (“thee”)

Pronoun

þi

Alternative form of þei (“they”)

Adverb

þi

Alternative form of þe (“the”)

Noun

þi (plural þies)

Alternative form of þigh (“thigh”)

Old English

Article

þī

Alternative form of þȳ

Determiner

þī

Alternative form of þȳ

Pronoun

þī

Alternative form of þȳ

[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] “thin, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.