- Thou
The word "thou" (pron-en|ðaʊ in most dialects) is a second person singular
pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in almost all contexts by "you ". "Thou" is the nominative form; the oblique/objective form is "thee" (functioning as both accusative and dative), and the possessive is "thy" or "thine". Almost allverb s following "thou" have the endings "-st" or "-est"; e.g., "thou goest". InMiddle English , "thou" was sometimes abbreviated by putting a small "u" over the letter .Originally, "thou" was simply the singular counterpart to the plural pronoun "ye", derived from an ancient Indo-European root. Following a process found in other Indo-European languages, "thou" was later used to express intimacy, familiarity, or even disrespect while another pronoun, "you", the oblique/objective form of "ye", was used for formal circumstances (see
T-V distinction ). In the 17th century, "thou" fell into disuse in the standard language but persisted, sometimes in altered form, in regional dialects ofEngland andScotland . [Shorrocks, 433–438.] , as well as in the language of such religious groups as the Society of Friends. In standardmodern English , "thou" continues to be used only in formal religious contexts, in literature that seeks to reproduce archaic language, and in certain fixed phrases such as "" and "". For this reason, many associate the pronoun with solemnity or formality, connotations at odds with the word's history. Many dialects have compensated for the lack of a singular/plural distinction caused by the disappearance of "thou" through the creation of new plural pronouns or pronominal constructions, such as "y'all ", "yinz ", "youse", "you lot", and "you guys". These vary regionally and are usually restricted to colloquial speech.Grammar
Because "thou" has passed out of common use, its traditional forms are often confused by those attempting to imitate older manners of speech.
Declension
The English personal pronouns have standardised
declension according to the following table:Conjugation
Verb forms used after "thou" generally end in "-st" or "-est" in the
indicative mood in both the present and the past tenses. These forms are used for both strong andweak verb s:Typical examples of the standard present and past tense forms follow. The "e" in the ending is optional; early English spelling had not yet been standardized. In verse, the choice about whether to use the "e" often depended upon considerations of meter.
*to know: "thou knowest", "thou knewest"
*to drive: "thou drivest", "thou drovest"
*to make: "thou makest", "thou madest"
*to love: "thou lovest", "thou lovedest"A few verbs have irregular "thou" forms:
*to be: "thou art" (or "thou beest"), "thou wast" (or "thou wert"; originally "thou were")
*to have: "thou hast", "thou hadst"
*to do: "thou dost" IPA|/dʌst/ (or "thou doest", in non-auxiliary use) and "thou didst"
*shall: "thou shalt"
*will: "thou wilt"In Old English, the second-person singular verb inflection was -es. This came down unchanged from Indo-European and can be seen in quite distantly related Indo-European languages: Russian знаешь, "znayesh", thou knowest;
Latin "amas", thou lovest. (This is parallel to the history of the third-person form, in Old English -eþ, Russian, знает, "znayet", he knoweth, Latin "amat" he loveth.) The anomalous development from -es to modern English -est, which took place separately at around the same time in the closely related German and Frisian languages, is understood to be caused by an assimilation of theconsonant of the pronoun, which often followed the verb. This is most readily observed in German: liebes du > liebstu > liebst du (thou lovest). The three languages belong to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, of which Frisian is the closest to English.Comparison
ee also
*
English personal pronouns Notes
References
*Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. "A History of the English Language", 5th ed. ISBN 0-13-015166-1
*Burrow, J. A., Turville-Petre, Thorlac. "A Book of Middle English". ISBN 0-631-19353-7
*Daniel, David. "The Bible in English: Its History and Influence." ISBN 0-300-09930-4.
*Shorrocks, Graham. "Case Assignment in Simple and Coordinate Constructions in Present-Day English." "American Speech", Vol. 67, No. 4 (Winter, 1992).
*Smith, Jeremy. "A Historical Study of English: Form, Function, and Change". ISBN 0-415-13272-X
*"Thou, "pers. pron., 2nd sing." Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989). [http://dictionary.oed.com/] .
*Trudgill, Peter. (1999) Blackwell Publishing. "Dialects of England". ISBN 0-631-21815-7Bibliography
*"Personal Pronouns in Present-Day English" by Katie Wales (Author) ISBN 0-521-47102-8
External links
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15097/15097-h/15097-h.htm "A Grammar of the English Tongue"] by
Samuel Johnson - includes description of 18th century use of "thou"
* [http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/dialect/ Contemporary use of "thou" in Yorkshire]
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000208 "Thou"] : The Maven's Word of the Day
* [http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1993/0938.html You/Thou in Shakespeare's Work] (archived forum discussion)
* [http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/tchg/lit/adv/shak.gram.html "A Note on Shakespeare's Grammar"] by Seamus Cooney
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