-sen for -self in English: history and usage
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 Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
add a comment |
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 Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
add a comment |
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 Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
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 Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
asked Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
asked Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
asked Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
asked Dec 14 at 21:02
Au101
1,2081616
1,2081616
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 Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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active
oldest
votes
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 Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
add a comment |
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 Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
add a comment |
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 Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
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 Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
edited Dec 15 at 7:48
answered Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
answered Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
answered Dec 14 at 22:02
user240918
24.7k1068148
24.7k1068148
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
add a comment |
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
It is certainly widely used in Sheffield, and I suspect in much of Yorkshire.
– WS2
Dec 14 at 22:10
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
In Barnsley too.
– Aeon Akechi
Dec 15 at 7:21
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
Also in Derbyshire (E. Midlands). I occasionally use it myself when 'putting on' the local dialect.
– Kate Bunting
Dec 15 at 8:40
add a comment |
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