From: Gordon Barlow
Message: 36267
Date: 2005-02-13
> > Here's a question. Where does the apostrophe s come from. I am undertotally
> > the impression that it stands for 'his'. "Bill his hat", or am I
> wrong?
> > Peter P
>
> >The apostrophe s comes from plain s.
> Torsten
>
> >It does not; it simply continues and generalizes the <-es>
> genitive of OE and ME. You do find the construction 'Bill
> his hat' in the 15th and 16th centuries, but it's an
> innovation existing side by side with, e.g., 'Bill(e)s hat'.
> Brian
>
> My opinion will be one of the least expert here, but long ago I
> provisionally concluded that the possessive -s - whether following an
> apostrophe or not (according to language) probably had its origin as an
> adjectival suffix. That might have preceded the *written* form "Billes
> hat". "Bill his hat" seems like folk-etymology, to me. After all: why no
> equivalent "Pegger hat" from "Peg her hat"?
>
> Gordon
>