What is Yourn is 'Meen' or What is Yours is Mine opus 590
| 16 June 2025 1615 Hours | | Linguistics, Custom, History |
Mine, by the way, used to be pronounced 'Meen'.
'Meen' used to be 'Mee book' and also before a vowel: 'Meen' apple.
Here is the pattern of today's possessive pronouns:
| mine | ours |
| yours | yours |
| his,hers,its | theirs |
So why is mine not 'mys'?
The Middle English possessive pattern, ended in an 'n':
| mine | ourn |
| thine | yourn |
| his,hern | theirn |
Moreover, Thine (possessive) could have been Thouse,
But actually matched Mine.
Speakers of the time, perhaps from sound or pattern, simply used Thine.
Also 'his' was the odd one out, which could have been 'hin'.
'Bruce's hope' was being utilized, but why not 'hin hope'?
However, the final 's' on 'his' began being used
With the other possessive pronouns--just feeling 'normal' to do so.
People with their language hold onto oddities out of habit,
But also, linguistically, seek pattern.
Language is a never-ending process of transformation--
Formerly, the nominative, 'Thou' was the singular,
'Inc' addressed two persons, and for more than two, 'Ye' was spoken.
Historically, further back, there was most probably,
'I, me', and 'that' for he and she, and 'those' for they!
What sounded normal to one, was eventually odd and 'wrong' by another.