Himsel

Part of speech: pronoun

Definitions

1. A dialect form of the pronoun himself, used in Scots and northern English to refer back to a male person or emphasize him
2. The reflexive or emphatic pronoun for a male, found in Scots and northern English dialect speech in place of the standard form
3. In Scots and northern English dialect, a variant of the standard reflexive pronoun referring back to a man or boy

Etymology: Himsel is a Scots and northern English form meaning "himself," and its shape is a clue to how English reflexive pronouns were built. Old English had "him self" as two words, with "self" acting as a noun meaning "same" or "very person," so "he himself" was the person who was the same as him. In the north, the "him" part was later reduced to a single stressed syllable and then fused into a compact form, producing "himsel" in Scots and in dialects influenced by it. The word appears in Scots writing from the medieval period onward, long after the standard English "himself" had settled into print. Its survival reflects the way Scots kept many older forms of the reflexive pattern while southern English standardised. In everyday speech it still shows up in lines like "he's no' himsel'," meaning someone is unwell or out of character.