On 2006-05-06 12:01, tgpedersen wrote:
> N1-<es(j)o> N2 is actually N1 es(j)o N2; 'N1's N2' is 'N1 his/its
> N2' as in Norwegian and Dutch today.
The possibility of such an analysis may have facilitated the confusion
between the nominal and pronominal endings (cf. also the reanalysis of
<Johnes> 'John's' as <John his> in Early Modern English, which
demonstrates that such a thing could have happened at different times in
different Germanic languages). On the other hand, the confusion in
question is widespread, no matter whether reanalysis is possible or not.
By the way, in OE it was apparently the nouns that influenced the
pronouns, cf. <hwæs>, <þæs>. As I have said before, the Gmc. gen.sg. is
a mess.
Piotr