þem

See also: them

Middle English

Alternative forms

• them, þeim, þeime, þeym, þeyme, þeme, þaim, þaime, þaym, þayme, þam, þame, þeȝȝm
• þaem, yem, yam, yame, yham (Northern)
• yem, yam, yame, yham (northeast Midland)
• taim, taym, tam (Northern, after t or d)

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þeim. Compare hem (“them”).

Pronoun

þem (nominative þei)

1. Third-person plural accusative pronoun: them
   • 1430–1440, “II. Playsterers. The Creation, to the Fifth Day.”, in Lucy Toulmin Smith, editor, York Plays: The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries: […], Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, published 1885, →OCLC, page 9, lines 17–20:

     Þe water I will set / to flowe bothe fare and nere, / And þhan þe firmament, / in mydis to set þame sere.

     The water I will set / to flow both far and near, / And then the firmament, / in their midst to set them sere [separately].

2. (reflexive) themselves

Descendants

• English: them, thame
• Scots: thaim, them

See also

Middle English personal pronouns

			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
	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
		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

• “theim, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Determiner

þem

1. (Southwest) Alternative form of þan (“the, that, this”)

Etymology 3

Noun

þem (plural þemes)

1. Alternative form of teme (“family, tribe”)

Etymology 4

Noun

þem (third-person singular simple present þemeþ, present participle þemende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle þemed)

1. Alternative form of temen (“to produce offspring”)