ich

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ich"

Translingual

Symbol

ich

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Etkywan.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Etkywan terms

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ich, from Old English iċ, iċċ (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ik, *ek (“I”, pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm (“I”). See also ch-, I.

Alternative forms

• Iche, che, 'ch-, ch-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iːt͡ʃ/, /ɪt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtʃ, -ɪtʃ
• Homophones: each, itch

Pronoun

ich

1. (personal, obsolete) I.
   • 1529, John Skelton, Elynour Rummyng:

     "Behold," she sayd, "and se How bright I am of ble! Ich am not cast away, That can my husband say, [...]"

   • 1561, John Awdelay, The fraternitye of vacabondes:

     My maysters, ich am an old man, and halfe blinde, […]

   • 1568, Thomas Howell, Arbor of Amitie:

     With cap and knee, ich will serve thee, what should ich more declare.

   • 1578, George Whetstone, The right, excellent and famous Historye of Promos and Cassandra:

     Kissyng and lying ich see is all one:
     And chave no mony, chul tell true therfore.

   • 1645, Thomas Davies, The Somersetshire Man's Complaint:

     Dost thinke 'chill labor to be poore, No no, ich haue a-doe..Ich will a plundering too.

   • [1706, Edward Phillips, compiler, J[ohn] K[ersey the younger], “Ich”, in The New World of Words: Or, Universal English Dictionary. […], 6th edition, London: […] J. Phillips, […]; N. Rhodes, […]; and J. Taylor, […], →OCLC, column 2:

     Ich, a Word us'd for I in the Weſtern Parts of England.]

Usage notes

Ich was the form of I found in the dialects of the West Country, West Midlands, and Kent. It began to disappear from written English with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century, yet continued to see limited use until the middle of the 19th century.

The Northern dialectal form, ik (which derives from the same Old English root), likewise disappeared from writing with the onset of the Chancery Standard in the 15th century.

Derived terms

• nich
• chill (“I will”)
• cham (“I am”)

See also

• chinny reckon
• ich-laut (from the German cognate)

Etymology 2

Clipping of ichthyophthiriasis.

Alternative forms

• ick

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪk/

Noun

ich (uncountable)

1. (ichthyology) Ichthyophthiriasis, a parasitic infection of freshwater fish caused by ciliates of genus Ichthyophthirius.
   • 1996, Edward J. Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Iowa State University Press (2000), →ISBN, page 95:

     Ich is one of the most common diseases of freshwater fish.

Derived terms

• marine ich

Anagrams

• IHC, Chi., Ch'i, chi, ch'i, CIH, Chi, hic, CHI, HCI

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• i
• ig (Bern)

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik. Cognate with German ich, Dutch ik, English I, ich, Icelandic ég.

Pronunciation

• (Lower Alemannic (Northern Alsace)) IPA^(key): /iʃ/, /eʃ/, /iː/ (i is the unstressed pronoun, used after the verb, as in hiit hàw i dìs g'màcht (today I have done this), but it is always ìch before the verb, never i)
• (Higher Alemannic (Southern Alsace)) IPA^(key): /ix/, /ex/, /iː/ (unstressed)
• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /ix/, /i/ (unstressed), IPA^(key): [ɪːx] (stressed)

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Declension

Alemannic German personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	possessive m
singular	1st person		ich, i	mich, mi	mir, mier, mer	min, miin
	2nd person	familiar	du	dich, di	dir, dier, der	din, diin
		polite	Si		Ine, Ene, -ne	Ire
	3rd person	m	er	in, en	im	sin, siin
		f	si		ire
		n	es, 's, -s		im	sin, siin
plural	1st person		mir, mer	üs, öis, ois, eus		üse, öise, oise, euse
	2nd person		ir, ier	öi, eu		öie, eure
	3rd person		si		ine, ene, -ne	ire

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• eich (Moselle Franconian, stressed)
• ech (some dialects of Ripuarian; Moselle Franconian, unstressed, enclitic)

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm.

The expected form is ech; the variant ich is from a form *īh with expressive lengthening (compare the corresponding diphthong in Moselle Franconian).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iɕ/, [iɕ]
  • IPA^(key): [eɕ] → [əɕ] → [ɕ] (unstressed; enclitic before a consonant)
  • IPA^(key): [ij] (enclitic before a vowel)
• The enclitic pronunciation is used after verbs and conjunctions (unless the pronoun is stressed).

Pronoun

ich

1. (some dialects of Ripuarian, including Kölsch) I; nominative of the first-person singular personal pronoun

   Dat senn ich op däm Fotto.

   That’s I (or: me) in this photo.

Declension

Ripuarian (regional forms: Aachen [A], Cologne [C]; reduced or unstressed forms: red.):

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ich	du do; Do [C] de (red.)	hä e (red.)	sei, sie se (red.)	it het [A] et, 't, -'t (red.)
Dative	mir meer [C] mer (red.) [A] = acc.	dir deer; Deer [C] der (red.) [A] = acc.	im höm [A] em (red.)	ihr ehr [C] hör [A] (or = nom.) er (red.)	im höm [A] (or = nom.) em (red.)
Accusative	mich	dich; Dich	in en (red.) [A] = dat.	= nom. [A] = nom. or dat.	= nom.
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	mir meer [C] mer (red.) vir [A], ver (red.)	ühr ehr; Ehr [C] er (red.)	sei, sie se (red.)
Dative	us, uns os, ons [A]	üch; Üch	inne hön, hönne [A] (or = nom.) en (red.)
Accusative	= dat.	= dat.	= nom.

In other dialects:

• ät (“it”) (Düren)

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• i (Luserna)

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek. Cognate with German ich, English I.

Pronoun

ich

1. (Sette Comuni) I

Inflection

Cimbrian personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	dative
1st person singular		ich	mich	miar
2nd person singular	familiar	du	dich	diar
	polite	iart	ach	òich
3rd person singular	m	èar, ar	in, en	iime
	f	zi, ze		iar
	n	es, is	es, 's	iime
1st person plural		bar, bandare	zich	izàndarn
2nd person plural		iart, iartàndare, artàndare	òich, ach	ogàndarn
3rd person plural		ze, zòi, zandare	zich	innàndarn

References

• “ich” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
• 2013, Umberto Patuzzi (ed.), Sette Comuni / Siben Komoinen: Le nostre parole – D’ögnar börtar – Unsere Wörter, Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
• 2013, Umberto Patuzzi (ed.), Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole – Ünsarne börtar – Unsere Wörter, Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm.

Pronoun

ich

1. I
   • 1589, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, letter:

     Ich malthata. Ego dico.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

East Central German

Etymology

Cognate to German ich.

Pronoun

ich

1. (Silesian, also Breslauisch) I

Declension

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ihch; ich	du; de Du; De	er; a' är; a	sie, se, -'sche (after r), s', s'-	es; 's, -'s, -s (less common), -'sch (after r), -sch (after r, less common)
Dative	mir; mer	dir; der Dir (especially after prepositions and at the beginning of a sentence/clause); Der	ihm; i'm, im	ihr; i'r, ir	[Term?]
Accusative	mihch; mich	dihch; dich Dihch; Dich	ihn; i'n	sie, se, -'sche (after r)	es; 's, -'s, -s (less common), -'sch (after r), -sch (after r, less common)
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	bir (bier); ber	ihr; i'r	sie, se, s', s'-
Dative	uns, üns üns	euch	ihn'n; i'n'n, i'n
Accusative	uns, üns üns	euch	se

• sie/se and es can be contracted into s'e's (= SHG: sie es)

See also

other personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns:

• mei (1st ps. sg. possessive pronoun)
• dei; Dei (2nd ps. sg. possessive pronoun)
• ihr (3rd ps. sg. fem. possessive pronoun)
• unser, ünser / ünser (1st ps. pl. possessive pronoun)
• Ihr; Euch (grammatically: 2nd ps. pl.)
• Sie; Ihn'n (grammatically: 3rd ps. pl.)
• sihch, sich / sich (reflexive pronoun)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Silesian, also Gebirgsschlesisch) I

Declension

Gebirgsschlesisch:

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	iech; ich	du; de Du;	a	sie, se	es; -'s, -s (merged with a preceding s into ß as in iß (SHG: ist es) from is, biß (SHG: bis es) from bis), -sch (after r)
Dative	mir; merr, mer	dir; derr, der Dir;	ihm	ihr
Accusative	miech; mich	diech; dich Diech;	ihn;	se	es; -'s, -s (merged with a preceding s into ß as in iß (SHG: ist es) from is, biß (SHG: bis es) from bis), -sch (after r)
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	mirr, mir; merr, mer	ihr	sie, se
Dative	ins	euch	a
Accusative	ins	euch	se

Additionally there are:

• sa (= SHG: sie ihn)
• sa (= SHG: es ihnen)
• marn (= SHG: wir ihn)
• mida (= SHG: mit ihnen; from mit (“with”))

Also:

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	iech; ich	du; de Du; De	är; a	sie, se	es; 's, -'s, -'sch (after r)
Dative	mir; mer	dir; der Dir; Der	ihm; i'm	ihr; i'r
Accusative	miech; mich	diech; Diech;	i'n	se	es; 's, -'s, -'sch (after r)
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	bier; ber		sie, se
Dative	üns (uns)	(euch)
Accusative	üns (uns)	(euch)	se

Additionally there are:

• Ihr, I'r; Eich (Euch) (grammatically: 2nd ps. pl.; semantically: 2nd ps. sg. or pl.)
• Sie, Se; I'n (grammatically: 3rd ps. pl.; semantically: 2nd ps. sg.)

Notes:

• The forms uns, euch, Euch are rare, and could arguably be mistakes or misprints influenced by SHG uns, euch.

See also

possessive and reflexive pronouns - Gebirgsschlesisch:

• mei (1st ps. sg. possessive pronoun)
• dei (2nd ps. sg. possessive pronoun)
• insa (1st ps. pl. possessive pronoun)
• siech (reflexive pronoun)

possessive and reflexive pronouns - also:

• ünser (1st ps. pl.)
• sich (reflexive pronoun)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Silesian, Gebirgsschlesisch) I

Declension

• Nominative: ich
• Dative: mir; mer
• Accusative: mich

See also

other personal and possessive pronouns:

• mei (1st ps. sg. possessive pronoun)
• du, de; dir, der; dich; dei (2nd ps. sg.)
• a; ihm; ihn (3rd ps. sg. m.)
• -'s, -s, -'sch (after r as in mer'sch) (3rd ps. sg. n.)
• sei (3rd ps. sg. m. & n. possessive pronoun)
• se (3rd ps. sg. f.)
• ihr (3rd ps. sg. f. possessive pronoun)
• mer; ins; ins; inser (1st ps. pl.)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Silesian) I

Declension

• Nominative: ich
• Dative: mir; mer
• Accusative: miech; mich

See also

• Du, De; Dir, Der; Diech, Dich (2nd ps. sg.)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Obererzgebirge, Salzungen, Ruhla) I

Declension

Obererzgebirge:

• Nominative: ich
• Dative: mir
• Accusative: mich

Salzungen:

• Nominative: ich
• Dative: me
• Accusative: mich

Ruhla:

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ich	dåu, de	hä̂, ä, e	sü̂, se	es
Genitive					s'n
Dative	mäi, me	däi, de	ü̂n, ün, en	ü̂r, er	ü̂n, ün, en
Accusative	mich	dich	ü̂n, ün, en	sü̂, se	es
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	mäi, me	å̈ü	sü̂, se
Genitive	onser	å̈ürer	ürner, örner, er
Dative	ons	ü̂ch, üch	ün, en
Accusative	ons	ü̂ch, üch	sü̂, se

Alternative forms

• ig (mer, mig) (Obererzgebirge)

References

• Die Ruhlaer Mundart dargestellt von Karl Regel.   Weimar, Hermann Boehlau. 1868

Pronoun

ich

1. (Oberlausitz, Altenburg, Mansfeld, Niederlausitz) I

Declension

Oberlausitz, Altenburg:

• Nominative: ich; -'ch, 'ch
• Dative: mir
• Accusative: mich

Mansfeld:

• Nominative: ich; -'ch, 'ch
• Dative: mich
• Accusative: mich

Niederlausitz:

• Nominative: ich; -'ich (as in hua-'ich = SHG habe ich), -ich (as in hua-ich = SHG habe ich)
• Dative: merr
• Accusative: merr

See also

• du (2nd ps. sg.)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Nord-Thüringisch, Wasungen, Erzgebirgisch) I

Declension

Erzgebirge:

• Nominative: îch, ich
• Dative: mir, mr
• Accusative: mîch, mich

Nord-Thüringisch:

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	iche, ich;	duu; de	hee; he	sie; se	es; 's
Dative	mich; me	dich;	een; 'n	eer; er	; 'n
Accusative	mich; me	dich;	een; 'n	sie; se	es; 's
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	mie; me	die; de	sie; se
Dative	uns;	uch;	; 'n
Accusative	uns;	uch;	sie; se

Separated by semicolon are: strong/normal form ; weak/enclitic form

Wasungen:

	1st Person Singular	2nd Person Singular	3rd Person Singular
			Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	īch, ich	dūe, du, də	hǟ, hä, ə	sǖə, sü, sə	äs, əs, s
Genitive	is usually paraphrased		sən	ər, ərə	sən
Dative	mīə, mə	dīə, də	ün, ən	ǖər, ər	ün, ən
Accusative	mīch, mich	dīch, dich	ün, ən	sǖə, sü, sə	äs, əs, s
	1st Person Plural	2rd Person Plural	3rd Person Plural
Nominative	mīə, mi, mə	ǖə, ü, ə	sǖə, sü, sə
Genitive	is always paraphrased		ər, ərə
Dative	ons, also onz	æ̊üch, ı̣ch	ün, ən
Accusative	ons, also onz	æ̊üch, ı̣ch	sǖə, sü, sə

See also

Erzgebirge:

• mr (1st ps. pl.)
• ihr; eich (2nd ps. pl.)

Nord-Thüringisch:

• sich (reflexive pronoun)

Pronoun

ich

1. (Alzenau) I

See also

• ech

References

• Idioticon der nord-thüringischen Mundart. – Den Bürgern Nordhausens gewidmet von Dr. Martin Schultze.   Nordhausen. Verlag von Ferd. Förstemann. 1874
• Schriften des Vereins für Sachsen-Meiningische Geschichte und Landeskunde. 71. Heft. Inhalt: Die Wasunger Mundart, 2. Teil. Von Kirchenrat Edinhard Reichardt in Meiningen.   Hildburghausen. F. W. Gadow & Sohn, Herzogliche Hofbuchdruckerei. 1914
• Marek Dolatowski (2015), “Pochodzenie etnolektu hałcnowskiego w świetle fonetyki i fonologii historycznej”, in Badania diachroniczne w Polsce (in Polish)
• Marek Dolatowski (2013), “Słownictwo hałcnowskie jako odbicie historii etnolektu i historii wsi”, in Kwartalnik Językoznawczy (in Polish)
• Marek Dolatowski (2013), “Słowniczek polsko-hałcnowski”, in Kwartalnik Językoznawczy (in Polish)

East Franconian

Pronoun

ich

1. I

German

Alternative forms

• Ich (royal)

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪç/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Homophone: Ich
• Rhymes: -ɪç

Pronoun

ich

1. I (first person singular nominative (subject) pronoun)

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			sing. and pl.
	1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
			m	f	n
nominative	ich	du -e2	er	sie -se2	es	wir	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr3
genitive	meiner mein3	deiner dein3	seiner sein3	ihrer	seiner sein3	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer3
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch3
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es	uns	euch	sie -se2	Sie Euch3

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³archaic

In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are infrequent even there. They may be used:

• for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Er erbarmte sich meiner. – "He had mercy on me". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
• with certain adjectives or prepositions that govern the genitive, such as statt ("instead of, in place of"): Er kam statt meiner in die Mannschaft. – "He joined the team in my place." This sounds antiquated, and an meiner Statt or an meiner Stelle is preferable (in which case meiner is not a genitive, but a form of the possessive determiner mein).

Derived terms

• Ich n
• lyrisches Ich n

Further reading

• “ich” in Duden online
• “ich” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• eich

Etymology

From Middle High German ich, from Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik, from Proto-Indo-European *eǵh₂óm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiç/
• Rhymes: -iç
• Syllabification: ich

Pronoun

ich

1. I

   Ich sin en Fraa.

   I am a woman.

   Ich komme fun de Fabrick.

   I'm coming from the factory.

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

			nominative		accusative		dative
			proclitic	enclitic	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
singular	1st person		ich eich	-ich	mich meich		meer	mer m'r
	2nd person (informal)		du dau/Dau	-du, -de -Dau, -De	dich deich/Deich		deer	der d'r/D'r
	3rd person	m	er; där	-er	ihn	en	ihm	em
		f	sie; die	-se	sie / ihns	se	eer ehr	re
		n	es; das et, 't	's	es et	-et, -'t	ihm	em
plural	1st person		meer	mer	uns uhs
	2nd person		deer Ehr, Dehr	der	eich Auch
	3rd person		sie; die	-se	sie	se	denne

Further reading

• Piter Kehoma Boll (2021), “ich”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português (in Portuguese), 3rd edition, Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch, page 80

Hutterisch

Pronoun

ich

1. I

Jakaltek

Etymology

From Proto-Mayan *iihk.

Noun

ich

1. chili pepper

References

• Church, Clarence; Church, Katherine (1955), Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano‎ (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 18; 24

Limburgish

Alternative forms

• iech, ik
• iich (Eupen)
• ech (Southeast Limburgish)

Etymology

From Old High German ih, from Proto-West Germanic *ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, *ik.

Pronunciation

• (most dialects) IPA^(key): [ɪx]
• (Maastrichtian) IPA^(key): [ix]

Pronoun

ich (personal)

1. I

Inflection

	Singular	Dual[* 1]	Plural
nominative	ich, 'ch	weet	weer, veer, v'r
genitive[* 2]	miener, miens	ózzer	ózzer
locative[* 3]	miches	ózzes	ózzes
dative[* 4]	mir	ós	ós
accusative	mich	ós	ós

1. Dual has been extinct for many centuries.
2. Genitive is no longer part of the living language.
3. Locative may have existed at some point in the past.
4. Dative is nowadays obsolete, accusative is used instead.

Luo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪ̀c/

Noun

ich

1. stomach

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /itʃ/

Pronoun

ich

1. alternative form of I

Usage notes

• Ich is the Southern and sometimes Midland form of I in Middle English, which corresponds to ik of the Northern dialect.

Etymology 2

Determiner

ich

1. alternative form of ech

Pronoun

ich

1. alternative form of ech