myself
See also: Myself
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English myself, meself, me-self, me sylf, from Old English mē self, mē seolf (“myself”), equivalent to me (pronoun) + self (pronoun), later partly reinterpreted as my + self (noun), my + -self. Compare Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
myself (reflexive case of I)
- (reflexive) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]
- I taught myself.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
- Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
- In my normal state of body or mind.
- Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
- I feel like myself.
- (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- And my selfe have knowen a Gentleman, a chiefe officer of our crowne, that by right and hope of succession (had he lived unto it) was to inherit above fifty thousand crownes a yeere good land […].
- 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged:
- Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
- (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
- Myself John.
Usage notesEdit
- Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and.
- Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) reports opposition to the intensifier use, especially where I could be used.
- AP Stylebook Online (2010) reports opposition to the intensifier use as reflexive pronouns (like myself) should not be used instead of objective pronouns (like me).
SynonymsEdit
- (reflexive pronoun): me
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
me, reflexive form of me
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in apposition with I; personally
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See alsoEdit
English personal pronouns