Template talk:Early Modern English personal pronouns (table)
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[edit] Thy/thine vs my/mine
The text says that otherwise (i.e., after Chaucer's time), the distinction between thy and thine is the same as between my and mine. I thought that the distinction between thy and thine always followed my and mine. Until Chaucer, both followed the vowel-rule and subsequently both follow the attributive/predicative rule. If that is correct, I'd propose the text
- The distinction between thy and thine corresponds to that between my and mine. Principally, the first is attributive (my/thy goods,) and the second predicative (they are mine/thine). However, in a deliberately archaic style, the forms with /n/ are also used before words beginning with a vowel sound (mine/thine eyes.) This practice is irregularly followed in the King James Bible, but is more regular in earlier literature, such as the Early Modern English texts of Geoffrey Chaucer.
