# þem
## 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”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θɛi̯m/, /ðɛi̯m/, (originally unstressed) /ðɛm/

#### Pronoun

þem (nominative þei)
* 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].
* (reflexive) themselves

##### Descendants

* English: them, thame
* Scots: thaim, them

##### See also

| | | | nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | possessive |
| singular | 1st-person | 1st-person | I, ich, ik | me | me | min mi$^1$ | min |
| singular | 2nd-person | 2nd-person | þou | þe | þe | þin þi$^1$ | þin |
| singular | 3rd-person | m | he | him hine$^2$ | him | his | his hisen |
| singular | 3rd-person | f | sche, heo | hire heo | hire | hire | hire hires, hiren |
| singular | 3rd-person | n | hit | hit | hit him$^2$ | his, hit | — |
| dual$^3$ | 1st-person | 1st-person | wit | unk | unk | unker | unker |
| dual$^3$ | 2nd-person | 2nd-person | ȝit | inc | inc | inker | inker |
| plural | 1st-person | 1st-person | we | us, ous | us, ous | oure | oure oures, ouren |
| plural | 2nd-person$^4$ | 2nd-person$^4$ | ye | yow | yow | your | your youres, youren |
| plural | 3rd-person | inh. | he | hem he$^2$ | hem | here | here heres, heren |
| plural | 3rd-person | bor. | þei | þem, þeim | þem, þeim | þeir | þeir þeires, þeiren |
$^1$Used preconsonantally or before h. $^2$Early or dialectal. $^3$Dual 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. $^4$Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

##### References

* ↑ Brink, Daniel (1992) “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
* ↑ Thurber, Beverly A. (2011 February 15) “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 65-81.
* ↑ “theim, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

### Etymology 2
#### Determiner

þem
* (Southwest) Alternative form of þan (“the, that, this”)

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

þem (plural þemes)
* 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)
* Alternative form of temen (“to produce offspring”)