Why is the word ourselves a pronoun?

A pronoun is a Word that takes the place of a noun (or nouns) in a sentence.

The pronoun 'ourselves' takes the place of the nouns (names) for the person speaking and one or more other people.

The pronoun 'ourselves' is a reflexive pronoun, a Word used to 'reflect back' to its antecedent.

Example use: We took our lunches to the park to have ourselves a picnic.

The pronoun 'ourselves' and its antecedent 'we' (a personal pronoun) are used to take the place of the names of the person speaking and one or more other people. The person speaking will rarely use his/her own name.

Another example: Dad and I fixed the bicycle ourselves.

The pronoun 'ourselves' takes the place of its compound antecedent 'Dad and I'.