{"id":9303,"date":"2026-09-02T21:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/?p=9303"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:38:37","slug":"we-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2026\/09\/02\/we-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"We Ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post we’re looking at words for we<\/strong>, us<\/strong>, our<\/strong> and related pronouns in Celtic languages.<\/p>\n

\"Us<\/p>\n

Words marked with a * are reconstructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n*sn\u012bs<\/strong> = we
\n*sn\u012bsn\u012bs<\/strong> = we, ourselves (?)
\n*snos<\/strong> = us
\n*anserom<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gaulish<\/th>\nsni<\/strong> = we<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc)<\/th>\nsn\u00ed<\/strong> [\u02c8s\u02b2n\u0320\u02b2i\u02d0] = we
\nsnisni, nini, sinni<\/strong> = we (emphatic)
\nar<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\nsn\u00ed<\/strong> [\u02c8s\u02b2n\u0320\u02b2i\u02d0] = we
\nsnisni, snissni, snissi, sisni, sinni, nini, ninni<\/strong> = we (emphatic)
\nar, ‘r<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\nsinn<\/strong> [\u0283in\u02b2] = we, us
\nsinne<\/strong>[\u02c8\u0283in\u0320\u02b2\u0259] = we, us (emphatic)
\nsinn f\u00e9in<\/strong> = ourself
\nmuid<\/strong> [m\u02e0id\u02b2] = we (Connacht, Ulster)
\nmuidne<\/strong>[\u02c8m\u02e0in\u0320\u02b2\u0259] = we, us (emphatic)
\n\u00e1r<\/strong> [\u0251\u02d0\u027e\u02e0 \/ \u0259\u027e\u02e0 \/ \u025b\u027e\u02b2] = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scottish Gaelic (G\u00e0idhlig)<\/th>\nsinn<\/strong> [\u0283iN\u02b2] = we, us
\nsinne<\/strong> [\u0283iN\u02b2\u0259] = we, us (emphatic)
\nsinn fh\u00ecn<\/strong> = ourselves
\nar<\/strong> [\u0259r] = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\nshin<\/strong> [\u0283in] = we, us
\nshinyn<\/strong> = we, us, ourselves (emphatic)
\nshin hene<\/strong> = we ourselves, ourselves
\nain, ar, nar, nyn<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Proto-Brythonic<\/th>\n*ni<\/strong> = we
\n*nini<\/strong> = we (emphatic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old Welsh (Kembraec)<\/th>\nni<\/strong> = we, us
\nan<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\nny, ni<\/strong> = we, us
\nnini, nyni<\/strong> = we, us, ourselves (emphatic)
\nnynheu, ninheu, nynhev, nynne, ninneu<\/strong> = we (us) too, we (us) also, even we (us)
\nnyhunein, nu hun, nyhun(an)<\/strong> = ourselves
\nyn, in, an<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\nni<\/strong> [ni\u02d0] = we, us
\nninnau<\/strong> = we (us) too, we (us) also, even we (us)
\nnyni<\/strong> = we (us) (emphatic), we (us) ourselves
\nnyninnau<\/strong> = we \/ us also, even we \/ us, we \/ us ourselves
\nein hun(ain)<\/strong> = we, us ourselves, our own
\nein (… ni)<\/strong> [ei\u032fn ni\u02d0] = our, us<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle Cornish (Cernewec \/ Kernuak)<\/th>\nni, ny<\/strong> = we, us
\nagan, an<\/strong> = our
\nagan honan<\/strong> = ourselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\nni, nei<\/strong> = we
\nnyni<\/strong> = we (emphatic)
\nagan, ‘gan, ‘n<\/strong> = our
\nagan re<\/strong> = ours
\nagan honan, agan honen<\/strong> = ourselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old Breton (Brethonoc)<\/th>\nni<\/strong> = we<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle Breton (Brezonec)<\/th>\nny<\/strong> = we
\nhon, hor<\/strong> = our<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\nni<\/strong> [ni] = we
\nhol, hon, hor<\/strong> = our
\nni hon hunan<\/strong> = ourselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Etymology<\/strong>: from PIE *n\u0113s<\/em> (we), a modification of *nos<\/em>, the oblique plural form of \u00e9\u01f5h\u2082<\/em> (I) [source<\/a>] and *t\u00e9we<\/em> (your) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources: Wiktionary<\/a>, Am Faclair Beag<\/a>, Online Manx Dictionary<\/a>, Teanglann.ie<\/a>, eDIL – Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language<\/a>, In D\u00fail B\u00e9lrai English – Old Irish glossary<\/a>, Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru<\/a>, Gerlyver Kernewek<\/a>, Dictionaire Favereau<\/a>, TermOfis<\/a>, English – ProtoCeltic WordList<\/a> (PDF), Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this post we’re looking at words for we, us, our and related pronouns in Celtic languages. Words marked with a * are reconstructions. Proto-Celtic *sn\u012bs = we *sn\u012bsn\u012bs = we, ourselves (?) *snos = us *anserom = our Gaulish sni = we Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc) sn\u00ed [\u02c8s\u02b2n\u0320\u02b2i\u02d0] = we snisni, nini, sinni = we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,26,19,20,25,21,3,22,5,6,37,7,8,10,40,447,11,12,13,23,18,14],"tags":[52,80,51,145,48,47,53,49,456,457,55,458,455,50],"class_list":["post-9303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breton","category-kernewek-cornish","category-english","category-etymology","category-gaulish","category-gaeilge-irish","category-language","category-gaelg-manx","category-middle-breton","category-middle-cornish","category-middle-irish","category-middle-welsh-kymraec","category-old-breton","category-old-irish-goidelc","category-old-welsh","category-pronouns","category-proto-brythonic","category-proto-celtic","category-proto-indo-european","category-gaidhlig-scottish-gaelic","category-cymraeg-welsh","category-words","tag-breton","tag-celtic","tag-cornish","tag-etymology","tag-gaelic","tag-irish","tag-language","tag-manx","tag-our","tag-ourselves","tag-scottish-gaelic","tag-us","tag-we","tag-welsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9304,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9303\/revisions\/9304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}