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n and only son." Dr. Johnson, while he acknowledges the abovementioned derivation, very strangely calls own a noun substantive; and, with not more accuracy, says: "This is a word of no other use than as it is added to the possessive pronouns, _my, thy, his, our, your, their_."--_Quarto Dict., w. Own_. O. B. Peirce, with obvious untruth, says, "Own is used in combination with a name or substitute, and as a part of it, to constitute it emphatic."--_Gram._, p. 63. He writes it separately, but parses it as a part of the possessive noun or pronoun which precedes it!
OBS. 29.--The word self was originally an adjective, signifying _same, very_, or _particular_; but, when used alone, it is now generally a noun. This may have occasioned the diversity which appears in the formation of the compound personal pronouns. Dr. Johnson, in his great Dictionary, calls self a pronoun; but he explains it as being both adjective and substantive, admitting that, "Its primary signification seems to be that of an adjective."--Again he observes, "_Myself, himself, themselves_, and the rest, may, contrary to the analogy of _my, him, them_, be used as nominatives." _Hisself, itsself_, and theirselves, would be more analogical than _himself, itself, themselves_; but custom has rejected the former, and established the latter. When an adjective qualifies the term self, the pronouns are written separately in the possessive case; as, _My single self,--My own self,--His own self,--Their own selves_. So, anciently, without an adjective: as, "A man shall have diffused his life, his self, and his whole concernments so far, that he can weep his sorrows with an other's eyes."--South. "Something valuable for its self without view to anything farther."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 293. "That they would willingly, and of their selves endeavour to keep a perpetual chastity."--_Stat. Ed. VI. in Lowth's Gram._, p. 26. "Why I should either imploy my s