Learn English – Where did the word “yourn” originate

etymology

"Yourn" as in yours. Where did it originate? I think from the southern US, but not sure.

Best Answer

Yourn, ourn, hisn, hern, theirn all originate in the Anglo-Saxon Mid Anglian dialectal grammar (Cambs, Hunts, Beds) and contain the pronoun weak ending still present in mine and thine. My family originated in Cambs and evidently retained its dialect speech even when the Industrial Revolution obliged them to move to London in the 1830s. My grandfather said yourn, etc and my father said it (and I do!) whereas my grandmother's family and my mother's family came from different parts of Suffolk (East Anglian dialect) where they didn't say it.

They are not contractions of your one or your own at all. The Samuel Pegge quotation is correct - the ancient grammar lingered longer in Mid Anglia than elsewhere which is why it has survived. The Americans and Australians inherited it through colonization.