He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.” The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.
From Middle Englishhem, from Old Englishheom(“them”, dative), originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well. More at 'em.
1591, John Florio, Second Frutes to be gathered of twelve trees, of diverse but delightful tastes to the tongues of Italian and English:
‘What thinke you of this English, tel me I pray you.’ ‘It is a language that wyl do you good in England but passe Dover, it is woorth nothing.’ ‘Is it not used then in other countreyes?’ ‘No sir, with whom wyl you that they speake?’ ‘With English marchants.’ ‘English marchantes, when they are out of England, it liketh hem not, and they doo not speake it.
1) Used only as an object of a preposition or a verb. *) Some speakers may not distinguish various plurality categories, using only one or two plural pronouns. **) The collective pronouns specify that the action is performed by all subjects together, rather than on their own.
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Bislama personal pronouns
References
Terry Crowley (2004) Bislama Reference Grammar, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi press, →ISBN, page 46
5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").
This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Almost certainly an ad-hoc natural exclamation (do any sources explicitly label it as such in terms of etymological studies?)”
And with alle these men I was ofte homli and I comownede with hem long tyme and fele, and so bifore alle othir men I chees wilfulli to be enformed bi hem and of hem, and speciali of Wiclef himsilf, as of the moost vertuous and goodlich wise man that I herde of owhere either knew.
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.
Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28