Old English ure "of us," genitive plural of the first person pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *ons (cognates: Old Saxon usa, Old Frisian use, Old High German unsar, German unser, Gothic unsar "our"), from PIE *nes-, oblique case of personal pronoun in first person plural (source of Latin nos "we," noster "our"). Also compare ours. Ourselves (late 15c.), modeled on yourselves, replaced original construction we selfe, us selfum, etc.