unk

See also: -unk, unk., and -ünk

Middle English

Alternative forms

unc

Etymology

From Old English unc, accusative and dative form of wit, from Proto-Germanic *unk (accusative of *wet) and *unkiz (dative/instrumental of *wet).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /unk/

Pronoun

unk (nominative wit) (Early Middle English)

First-person dual accusative pronoun: us twain, the two of us.
(reflexive) our (two) selves.

			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

“unk, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 11 May 2018.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *unk.

Pronoun

unk

(Sylt, dated) Object case of wat: us two, both of ourselves

Determiner

unk (invariable)

(Sylt, dated) our, of us two (first-person dual possessive determiner)

Pronoun

unk (plural unken)

(Sylt, dated) ours, that of us two (first-person dual possessive pronoun)

		personal				possessive
		subject case		object case		singular referent	plural referent
		full	reduced	full	reduced	singular referent	attributive	independent
singular	1st	ik	'k	mi		min		minen
	2nd	dü	–	di		din		dinen
	3rd m.	hi	'r	höm	'n	sin		sinen
	3rd f.	jü	's	höör	's	höör		höören
	3rd n.	hat	et, 't	höm	et, 't	sin		sinen
dual	1st	wat		unk				unken
	2nd	at		junk				junken
	3rd	jat		jam	's	jaar		jaaren
plural	1st	wü		üüs				üüsen
	2nd	i		juu				juuen
	3rd	ja	's	jam	's	jaar		jaaren
notes		The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts. Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur. The dual forms are dated, but not obsolete as in other dialects. Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.

Old Saxon

Pronoun

unk

accusative/dative of wit