37.1625, Qs: Pronouns (Especially 1st Person) from Nouns and Nominal Phrases

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1625. Thu Apr 30 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1625, Qs: Pronouns (Especially 1st Person) from Nouns and Nominal Phrases

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Date: 30-Apr-2026
From: Alexis Manaster Ramer [manasterramer at gmail.com]
Subject: Pronouns (Especially 1st Person) from Nouns and Nominal Phrases


Persian allows the use of the noun bande 'slave' as a full-fledged 1sg
pronoun, so that when used as subject it has the verb appear in 1sg.
So this is one or more steps beyond the much more common usages such
as English your humble servant, which remains third person.  I am even
more interested in self-aggrandizing usages of which I also know just
one clear example, the Hittite kings referring to themselves as 'My
sun', again often with the verb in 1sg., so again different from the
(once-common) usages in various European languages of 'My Majesty' or
even just 'Majesty' with 3sg or 3pl. to refer to oneself.  Any help
will be gratefully acknowledged--in print.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Pragmatics
                     Semantics

Subject Language(s): Hittite (hit)
                     Iranian Persian (pes)

Language Family(ies): Indo-European



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