Etimology
From Middle English myself, meself, from Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, equivalent to me + self, later partly reinterpreted as my + self / -self. Cognate with Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), German mich selbst, mir selbst (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).
pronoun
myself (reflexive case of I)
(reflexive) Me, as direct or indirect object the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition, when the speaker is also the subject. [from 9th c.]
Personally, for my part; used in apposition to I, sometimes for simple emphasis and sometimes with implicit exclusion of any others performing the activity described. [from 10th c.]
In my normal state of body or mind.
Me (as the object of a verb or preposition). [from 10th c.]
(archaic) I (as the subject of a verb). [from 14th c.]
(India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...
Examples
I taught myself.
Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
I feel like myself.
And my selfe have knowen a Gentleman, a chiefe officer of our crowne, that by right and hope of succession was to inherit above fifty thousand crownes a yeere good land […].
Myself am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best remedies for a scabby head that is.
Myself John.
Related words
synonyms
(reflexive pronoun): me
related terms
myselves