Your'n
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:00 pm
Here's one I haven't seen brought up- the locals 'round these parts often use your'n for a 2nd person singular possessive adjective (not sure if it's used in plural).
The derivation seems perceptible enough: "your one" would be more logical than yours following the pattern of "this one" and "that one". That is an assumption though.
Seems to manifest as an Appalachian Scots-Irish usage.
Is that regionally accurate?
Interestingly Dictionary.com sez:
Origin:
1350–1400; ME, equiv. to your + -n, as in mine
-wheras yours is described as about 100 years older, a mere eyeblink on that scale...
The derivation seems perceptible enough: "your one" would be more logical than yours following the pattern of "this one" and "that one". That is an assumption though.
Seems to manifest as an Appalachian Scots-Irish usage.
Is that regionally accurate?
Interestingly Dictionary.com sez:
Origin:
1350–1400; ME, equiv. to your + -n, as in mine
-wheras yours is described as about 100 years older, a mere eyeblink on that scale...