ich

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See also: Ich, ICH, ích, ịch, -ich, and -ich-

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English ich, from Old English iċ, iċċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ (“I”). See also ch-, I.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. (personal, obsolete) I.
    • 1529, John Skelton, Elynour Rummyng:
      "Behold," she sayd, "and se How bright I am of ble! Ich am not cast away, That can my husband say, [...]"
    • 1561, John Awdelay, The fraternitye of vacabondes:
      My maysters, ich am an old man, and halfe blinde, […]
    • 1568, Thomas Howell, Arbor of Amitie:
      With cap and knee, ich will serve thee, what should ich more declare.
    • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:
      Kissyng and lying ich see is all one:
      And chave no mony, chul tell true therfore.
    • 1645, Thomas Davies, The Somersetshire Man's Complaint:
      Dost thinke 'chill labor to be poore, No no, ich haue a-doe..Ich will a plundering too.
    • 1706, Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words:
      Ich, a Word us'd for I in the Western Parts of England.

Usage notes[edit]

Ich was the form of I found in the dialects of the West Country, West Midlands, and Kent. It began to disappear from written English with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century, yet continued to see limited use through the middle of the 19th century.

The Northern dialectal form, ik (which derives from the same Old English root), likewise disappeared from writing with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century.

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Clipping of ichthyophthiriasis.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ich (uncountable)

  1. (ichthyology) Ichthyophthiriasis, a parasitic infection of freshwater fish caused by the ciliate Ichthyophthirius.
    • 1996, Edward J. Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Iowa State University Press (2000), →ISBN, page 95:
      Ich is one of the most common diseases of freshwater fish.
Derived terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Alemannic German[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik. Cognate with German ich, Dutch ik, English I, ich, Icelandic ég.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (Lower Alemannic (Northern Alsace)) IPA(key): /iʃ/, /eʃ/, /iː/ (i -> unstressed pronoun, used after the verb -> Hiit hàw *i* dìs g'màcht (Today I have done this), BUT it is always "ìch" before the verb, never the plain "i")


  • (Higher Alemannic (Southern Alsace)) IPA(key): /ix/, /ex/, /iː/ (unstressed)


  • (Zurich) IPA(key): /ix/, /i/ (unstressed), IPA(key): [ɪːx] (stressed)

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I

Declension[edit]

Alemannic German personal pronouns
nominative accusative dative possessive
1st person singular ich, i mich, mi mir, mer miin
2nd person singular familiar du dich dir diin
polite Si Ine, Ene Ire
3rd person singular m er in im siin
f si ire
n es im siin
1st person plural mir öis öise
2nd person plural ir öi öie
3rd person plural si ine, ene ire

Central Franconian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • eich (Moselle Franconian, stressed)
  • ech (some dialects of Ripuarian; Moselle Franconian, unstressed, enclitic)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂. The expected form is ech; the variant ich is from a form *īh with expressive lengthening (compare the corresponding diphthong in Moselle Franconian).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /iɕ/, [iɕ]
    • IPA(key): [eɕ] → [əɕ] → [ɕ] (unstressed; enclitic before a consonant)
    • IPA(key): [ij] (enclitic before a vowel)
  • The enclitic pronunciation is used after verbs and conjunctions (unless the pronoun is stressed).

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. (some dialects of Ripuarian, including Kölsch) I; nominative of the first-person singular personal pronoun
    Dat senn ich op däm Fotto.
    That’s I (or: me) in this photo.

Cimbrian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek. Cognate with German ich, English I.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. (Sette Comuni) I

Inflection[edit]

Cimbrian personal pronouns
nominative accusative dative
1st person singular ich mich miar
2nd person singular familiar du dich diar
polite iart ach òich
3rd person singular m èar, ar in, en iime
f zi, ze iar
n es, is es, 's iime
1st person plural bar, bandare zich izandarn
2nd person plural iart, artandare,
iart-andare		 òich, ach ogandarn
3rd person plural ze, zòi, zandare zich innandarn

References[edit]

  • “ich” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Crimean Gothic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I
    • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
      Ich malthata. Ego dico.

German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɪç/
  		• (file)
  • (Austria)
    		(file)

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I (first person singular nominative (subject) pronoun)

Inflection[edit]

German personal pronouns
nominative accusative genitive dative possessive
1st person singular ich mich meiner
(† mein)		 mir mein
2nd person singular (familiar)1 du
(-e)		 dich deiner
(† dein)		 dir dein
3rd person singular m er ihn seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
f sie ihrer ihr
n es seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
1st person plural wir
(mir)		 uns unser uns unser
2nd person plural (familiar)1 ihr euch euer euch euer
3rd person plural sie ihrer ihnen ihr
polite address naturally: 2nd person sg. or pl.;
grammatically: 2nd person pl. 		Ihr Euch Euer Euch Euer
naturally: 2nd person sg. or pl.;
grammatically: 3rd person pl. 		Sie Ihrer Ihnen Ihr

1Often capitalized, especially in letters

In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are infrequent even here. They may be used

  • for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Er erbarmte sich meiner. – "He had mercy on me". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
  • after the preposition statt ("instead of, in place of"): Er kam statt meiner in die Mannschaft. – "He joined the team in my place." This sounds antiquated, and an meiner Statt or an meiner Stelle is preferable (in which case meiner is not a genitive, but a form of the possessive determiner mein).

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • ich in Duden online

Hunsrik[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I
    Ich sin en Fraa.
    I am a woman.
    Ich komme fun de Fabrick.
    I'm coming from the factory.

Inflection[edit]

Hunsrik personal pronouns
nominative accusative dative
Proclitic Enclitic str. unstr. str. unstr.
1st person singular ich

eich

-ich mich

meich

meer mer

m'r

2nd person singular
(informal) 		du

dau/Dau

-du, -de

-Dau, -De

dich

deich/Deich

deer der

d'r/D'r

3rd person singular (m.) er; där -er ihn en ihm em
3rd person singular (f.) sie; die -se sie / ihns se eer

ehr

re
3rd person singular (n.) es; das

et, 't

's es

et

-et, -'t

ihm em
1st person plural meer mer uns

uhs

2nd person plural deer

Ehr, Dehr

der eich

Auch

3rd person plural sie; die -se sie se denne

Further reading[edit]

Jakaltek[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Mayan *iihk.

Noun[edit]

ich

  1. chili pepper

References[edit]

  • Church, Clarence; Church, Katherine (1955) Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano‎[1] (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, pages 18; 24

Limburgish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich (personal)

  1. I

Inflection[edit]

Singular Dual Plural
nominative ich, 'ch weet weer, v'r
genitive miener, miens ózzer ózzer
locative miches ózzes ózzes
dative[* 1] mir ós ós
accusative mich ós ós
  1. ^ Dative is nowadays obsolete, use accusative instead.

Luo[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ich

  1. stomach

Middle English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English iċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *egom (“I”), *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. Alternative form of I

Usage notes[edit]

  • Ich is the Southern and sometimes Midland form of I in Middle English, which corresponds to ik of the Northern dialect.

Middle High German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old High German ih, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. (personal) I

Declension[edit]

Declension of ich
Case \ Number singular plural
nominative ich wir
accusative mich unsich, uns
genitive mîn unser
dative mir uns

Descendants[edit]

  • Alemannic German: ich, ig, i
    • Sensler: [iː][1]
    • Swabian: i
      • Sathmar Swabian: i
  • Bavarian: i
  • Central Franconian: ich, eich, ech
    • Hunsrückisch: äijsch
    • Moselle Franconian:
      • Saarland:
        • Britten: [æɪ̯ʃ], [ɪʃ][3]
    • Ripuarian:
  • East Central German:
  • East Franconian: i, iech
  • German: ich
  • Luxembourgish: ech
  • Rhine Franconian:
  • Vilamovian: ych
  • Yiddish: איך‎ (ikh)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Schmutz, C., Haas, W. (2004) Senslerdeutsches Wörterbuch. Fribourg: Paulusverlag.
  2. ^ Altenhofen, Cléo Vilson. (1996) Hunsrückisch in Rio Grande do Sul: Ein Beitrag zur Beschreibung einer deutschbrasilianischen Dialektvarietät im Kontakt mit dem Portugiesischen. Stuttgart: Steiner.
  3. ^ "ich". In: Besse, Maria. (2004). Britter Wörterbuch. Losheim am See: Verein für Heimatkunde in der Gemeinde Losheim am See.
  4. ^ Online-Wörterbuch der Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch, Stichwort »ich« (URL).
  5. ^ Kelz, Heinrich P. (1971). Phonologische Analyse des Pennsylvaniadeutschen. Hamburg: Buske.

Pennsylvania German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old High German ih. Compare German ich, Dutch ik, English I, Old Norse ek.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I

Polish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. possessive pronoun for oni or one, namely their or theirs; indeclinable.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. genitive of oni; them
  2. genitive of one; them
  3. personal masculine accusative of oni; them

See also[edit]

Slovak[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

ich

(The genitive plural and accusative plural of on (he), ona (she), and one (it).)
  1. (possessive) their, theirs
  2. them

Further reading[edit]

  • ich in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Yola[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English ich, from Old English iċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ (“I”). Compare obsolete English ich.

Pronoun[edit]

ich

  1. I (first person singular pronoun)

See also[edit]

Yucatec Maya[edit]

Noun[edit]

ich (plural ichoʼob)

  1. (anatomy) eye
  2. face
  3. fruit
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