Etymograph

English

itself

Itself comes from Middle English hit-self, equivalent to it + -self.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hit-self1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1638itself1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English itself
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1638, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy. […]: “Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hit-selfWiktionary, English itself
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1638itselfWiktionary, English itself. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1638, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy. […]: “Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with itself, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English hit

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Today it means

pron it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “itself”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English hit-self / itself