myself
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Myself
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English myself, meself, from Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, equivalent to me + self, later partly reinterpreted as my + self / -self. Cognate with Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), German mich selbst, mir selbst (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
myself (reflexive case of I)
- (reflexive pronoun) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]
- I taught myself.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
- Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
- In my normal state of body or mind.
- Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
- I feel like myself.
- (archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- And my selfe have knowen a Gentleman, a chiefe officer of our crowne, that by right and hope of succession (had he lived unto it) was to inherit above fifty thousand crownes a yeere good land […].
- 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged:
- Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
- (India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
- Myself John.
Usage notes
- Use where I could be used is mostly poetic or archaic, except with a coordinating conjunction, such as and.
- Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) reports opposition to the intensifier use, especially where I could be used.
- AP Stylebook Online (2010) reports opposition to the intensifier use as reflexive pronouns (like myself) should not be used instead of objective pronouns (like me).
Synonyms
- (reflexive pronoun): me
Related terms
Translations
me, reflexive form of me
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in apposition with I; personally
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See also
English personal pronouns
Dialectal and obsolete or archaic forms are in italics.
Alternative forms
- myselve
Etymology
From Old English mē self, mē seolf, equivalent to my + self.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
myself
Descendants
References
- “mī-self, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
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