thy
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English þi, apocopated variant of þin, from Old English þīn, from Proto-West Germanic *þīn, from Proto-Germanic *þīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *téynos (“thy; thine”), from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“thou”). See thou.
DeterminerEdit
thy
- (archaic, dialectal, literary) Possessive form of thou: that which belongs to thee; which belongs to you (singular).
TranslationsEdit
possessive determiner
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See alsoEdit
Etymology 2Edit
ConjunctionEdit
thy
- (obsolete) Only used in for thy, for-thy, which is an alternative form of forthy (“because, therefore”)
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
- For-thy it round and hollow shaped was, Like to the world itselfe, and seem'd aworld of glass.
- 1713, Robert Sanders (translator), The Life and Acts of Sir William Wallace:
- Wallace knew well the Englishmen would flee, For thy he thrusted in the thickest to be, Hewing full fast on whomsoever he fought, Against his dint fine steel availed nought.
- 1791, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, William TAYLOR (of Norwich.), Nathan the Wise. A dramatic poem, page 24:
- For thy it bring: us nearer to the Godhead is nonsense, Daya, if not blasphemy.
See alsoEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
DeterminerEdit
thy
- Alternative form of þi (“thy”)
Etymology 2Edit
DeterminerEdit
thy
- Alternative form of þe (“the”)
Etymology 3Edit
PronounEdit
thy
- Alternative form of þe (“thee”)
Etymology 4Edit
PronounEdit
thy
- Alternative form of þei (“they”)
Etymology 5Edit
AdverbEdit
thy
- Alternative spelling of þy (“the”)
Etymology 6Edit
NounEdit
thy (plural thies)
- Alternative spelling of þy (“thigh”)
ScotsEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From þi, apocopated variant of Middle English þin, from Old English þīn, from Proto-West Germanic *þīn, from Proto-Germanic *þīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *téynos (“thy; thine”).
PronunciationEdit
DeterminerEdit
thy
Usage notesEdit
- Regularly used throughout Scotland up until the middle of the 1800s; now only used as an archaism outside Shetland and Orkney.
ReferencesEdit
- “thy, poss. pron.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.