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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

I \I\ ([imac]).
1. I, the ninth letter of the English alphabet, takes its
form from the Ph[oe]nician, through the Latin and the
Greek. The Ph[oe]nician letter was probably of Egyptian
origin. Its original value was nearly the same as that of
the Italian I, or long e as in mete. Etymologically I is
most closely related to e, y, j, g; as in dint, dent,
beverage, L. bibere; E. kin, AS. cynn; E. thin, AS.
[thorn]ynne; E. dominion, donjon, dungeon. In English I
has two principal vowel sounds: the long sound, as in
p[imac]ne, [imac]ce; and the short sound, as in p[i^]n. It
has also three other sounds: (a) That of e in term, as in
thirst. (b) That of e in mete (in words of foreign
origin), as in machine, pique, regime. (c) That of
consonant y (in many words in which it precedes another
vowel), as in bunion, million, filial, Christian, etc. It
enters into several digraphs, as in fail, field, seize,
feign. friend; and with o often forms a proper diphtong,
as in oil, join, coin. See Guide to Pronunciation,
[sect][sect] 98-106.
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Note: The dot which we place over the small or lower case i
dates only from the 14th century. The sounds of I and J
were originally represented by the same character, and
even after the introduction of the form J into English
dictionaries, words containing these letters were, till
a comparatively recent time, classed together.
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2. In our old authors, I was often used for ay (or aye), yes,
which is pronounced nearly like it.
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3. As a numeral, I stands for 1, II for 2, etc.
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I- \I-\, prefix.
See {Y-}.
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I \I\ ([imac]), pron. [poss. {My} (m[imac]) or {Mine}
(m[imac]n); object. {Me} (m[=e]). pl. nom. {We} (w[=e]);
poss. {Our} (our) or {Ours} (ourz); object. {Us} ([u^]s).]
[OE. i, ich, ic, AS. ic; akin to OS. & D. ik, OHG. ih, G.
ich, Icel. ek, Dan. jeg, Sw. jag, Goth. ik, OSlav. az', Russ.
ia, W. i, L. ego, Gr. 'egw`, 'egw`n, Skr. aham. [root]179.
Cf. {Egoism}.]
The nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the
word with which a speaker or writer denotes himself.
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Personal \Per"son*al\ (p[~e]r"s[u^]n*al), a. [L. personalis: cf.
F. personnel.]
1. Pertaining to human beings as distinct from things.
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Every man so termed by way of personal difference.
--Hooker.
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2. Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or
affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals;
peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or
general; as, personal comfort; personal desire.
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The words are conditional, -- If thou doest well, --
and so personal to Cain. --Locke.
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3. Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance;
corporeal; as, personal charms. --Addison.
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4. Done in person; without the intervention of another.
"Personal communication." --Fabyan.
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The immediate and personal speaking of God. --White.
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5. Relating to an individual, his character, conduct,
motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive
manner; as, personal reflections or remarks.
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6. (Gram.) Denoting person; as, a personal pronoun.
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{Personal action} (Law), a suit or action by which a man
claims a debt or personal duty, or damages in lieu of it;
or wherein he claims satisfaction in damages for an injury
to his person or property, or the specific recovery of
goods or chattels; -- opposed to real action.

{Personal equation}. (Astron.) See under {Equation}.

{Personal estate} or {Personal property} (Law), movables;
chattels; -- opposed to {real estate} or {real property}.
It usually consists of things temporary and movable,
including all subjects of property not of a freehold
nature.

{Personal identity} (Metaph.), the persistent and continuous
unity of the individual person, which is attested by
consciousness.

{Personal pronoun} (Gram.), one of the pronouns {I}, {thou},
{he}, {she}, {it}, and their plurals.

{Personal representatives} (Law), the executors or
administrators of a person deceased.

{Personal rights}, rights appertaining to the person; as, the
rights of a personal security, personal liberty, and
private property.

{Personal tithes}. See under {Tithe}.

{Personal verb} (Gram.), a verb which is modified or
inflected to correspond with the three persons.
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Y- \Y-\, or I- \I-\ . [OE. y-, i-, AS. ge-, akin to D. & G. ge-,
OHG. gi-, ga-, Goth. ga-, and perhaps to Latin con-;
originally meaning, together. Cf. {Com-}, {Aware}, {Enough},
{Handiwork}, {Ywis}.]
A prefix of obscure meaning, originally used with verbs,
adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns. In the Middle
English period, it was little employed except with verbs,
being chiefly used with past participles, though occasionally
with the infinitive. Ycleped, or yclept, is perhaps the only
word not entirely obsolete which shows this use.
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That no wight mighte it see neither yheere. --Chaucer.
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Neither to ben yburied nor ybrent. --Chaucer.
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Note: Some examples of Chaucer's use of this prefix are; ibe,
ibeen, icaught, ycome, ydo, idoon, ygo, iproved,
ywrought. It inough, enough, it is combined with an
adjective. Other examples are in the Vocabulary.
[1913 Webster] Spenser and later writers frequently
employed this prefix when affecting an archaic style,
and sometimes used it incorrectly.
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