him: [OE] Him was originally the dative case of Old English hē ‘he’, which in the late Old English period gradually started to take over from the original accusative hine as the general object form (the ’un or ’n still occasionally found in southern English dialects for ‘him’ may represent the last vestiges of this). The dative ending -m is also found in, for example, German ihm (dative of er ‘he’) and Dutch hem. => he
Old English him, originally dative masculine and neuter of he; beginning 10c. it replaced hine as masculine accusative, a regional process completed by 15c. The dative roots of the -m ending are retained in German (ihm) and Dutch (hem). Hine persists, barely, as the southern England dialectal 'un, 'n for "him."
