(ʾenûn), Arab. húmû (archaic form of hum), and Ethiop. hômû, an ô or ô is appended, which in Hebrew seems to reappear in the poetical suffixes ־מוֹ, ־ָ֫ מוֹ, ־ֵ֫ מוֹ (§ 91 l, 3).
[n] In some passages הֵ֫מָּה stands for the feminine (Zc 510, Ct 68, Ru 122; cf. the use of the suffix of the 3rd masc. for the 3rd fem., § 135 o and § 145 t). For the quite anomalous עַד־הֵם 2 K 918 read עָֽדֵיהֶם (Jb 3212).
[o] 8. The pronouns of the 3rd person may refer to things as well as persons. On their meaning as demonstratives see § 136.
Brockelmann, Semit. Sprachwiss., p. 100 f.; Grundriss, i. 306 ff. J. Barth, ‘Beiträge zur Suffixlehre des Nerdsemit.,’ in the Amer. Journ. of Sem. Lang., 1901, p. 193 ff.
[a] 1. The independent principal forms of the personal pronoun (the separate pronoun), given in the preceding section, express only the nominative.[1] The accusative and genitive are expressed by forms, usually shorter, joined to the end of verbs, nouns, and particles (pronominal suffixes or simply suffixes); e.g. הוּ (toneless) and וֹ (from āhû) eum and eius, קְטַלְתִּ֫יהוּ I have killed him (also קְטַלְתִּיו), קְטַלְתָּ֫הוּ or (with āhû contracted into ô) קְטַלְתּ֫וֹ thou hast killed him; אוֹר֫וֹ (also אוֹרֵ֫הוּ) lux eius.
The same method is employed in all the other Semitic languages, as well as in the Egyptian, Persian, Finnish, Tartar, and others; in Greek, Latin, and German we find only slight traces of the kind, e.g. German, er gab’s for er gab es; Greek, πατήρ μου for πατὴρ ἐμοῦ; Latin, eccum, eccos, &c., in Plautus and Terence for ecce eum, ecce eos.
[b] 2. The case which these suffixes represent is—
(a) When joined to verbs, the accusative (cf., however, § 117 x), e.g. קְטַלְתִּ֫יהוּ I have killed him.
[c] (b) When affixed to substantives, the genitive (like πατήρ μου, pater eius). They then serve as possessive pronouns, e.g. אָבִי (ʾābh-î) my father, סוּסוֹ his horse, which may be either equus eius or equus suus.
[d] (c) When joined to particles, either the genitive or accusative, according as the particles originally expressed the idea of a noun or a verb, e.g. בֵּינִי, literally interstitium mei, between me (cf. mea causa); but הִנְנִי behold me, ecce me.
[e] (d) Where, according to the Indo-Germanic case-system, the dative or ablative of the pronoun is required, the suffixes in Hebrew are joined to prepositions expressing those cases (לְ sign of the dative, בְּ in, מִן from, § 102), e.g. לוֹ to him (ei) and to himself (sibi), בּוֹ in him, מִנִּי (usually מִמֶּ֫נִּי) from me.