† yitpron.

Etymology: Cognate with North Frisian †jat , (Sylt) †at , Old Saxon git , German regional (Bavaria and Austria) (as plural) es , German regional (Dortmund) (as plural) it , et , git , get , Old Icelandic it , ið , also (later) þit (Icelandic (as plural) þið ), Faroese (as plural) tit , Norn (Shetland) (as plural) di , Norwegian regional (as plural) di , (Sunnmøre, Nordfjord) did , Old Swedish it (Swedish regional (as plural) (Dalarna) ið , (Finland) et , ät ), probably reflecting a variant (with analogical alteration of the stem vowel after wit pron.) of a Germanic pronoun form < the same Indo-European base as ye pron. + the Indo-European base of two adj., n., and adv.; compare similarly Lithuanian jù-du . The dual number has been lost in all modern Germanic languages (although it survived into the modern period in Icelandic (until the 18th cent.), Faroese (until the 19th cent.), and North Frisian (until the 20th cent.)); however, the forms of the dual pronoun have been retained (functioning as plurals) in several (chiefly Scandinavian) varieties (see further S. Howe Personal Pronouns in Germanic Langs. (1996) 118–24). The initial dental in Old Icelandic þit (and other Scandinavian forms) developed by metanalysis of the 2nd plural verbal endings -ið , -uð when immediately preceding the pronoun (compare similar forms cited at ye pron.). Compare wit pron.For the full paradigm of the 2nd person pronoun in Old English see thou pron. and n.¹ In form ge it (see quot. a1325) perhaps mistaken for ge it , i.e. ye pron. and it pron., adj., and n.¹, by the scribe.