I didn't realize it until yesterday, but in Shakespeare's time, mine was used for "my"...

[Bucky]

in the same way that "an" was used for "a"--to give a vowel sound between a noun and its article. For instance, "mine eyes have seen the coming" isn't poetic license; it's archaic. I never knew this rule before; I'd just thought Shakespeare & his contemporaries were randomly interchanging "my" and "mine" as the mood fit them.

[Aristus]

1. That's how, in Shakespeare, "mine uncle" becomes "Nuncle". And "Mine Ed" becomes "Ned."

The Anglo-Saxons seemed to settle in the middle of the French "mon" (sounds like mahwnh) and the Saxon-derived German "mein."

And Shakespeare brought Norman English into the Modern age. B-)

[KG]

2. a good read about the evolution on the english language:

Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language by Seth Lerer

http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-English-Portable-History-Language/dp/023113794X