You origins (2nd person pronoun)

Origins and predecessors of the 2nd person pronoun "you" and "yours"

• thee, thou, thine, thy, ye
• these "you" forms are from "Middle English"
  • useful for Shakespeare "you" translations
• "you" and "your/yours" replaced them into the 1600s
  • however, Shakespearean and Biblical texts have traditionally maintained "thee" / "thine"

"You" origins

• Old English origin of "you"
  • from Old English "thou" and "ge"
  • or "ye" (objective case)
• PIE origin of "you" and "thou"
  • you is from second person plural: *yu
  • thou is from second person singular: *tege- (from which the French and Spanish "tu" is derived)
• transition from "thee" to "you"
  • in Middle English, the second person plural form merged with the singular
    • 2nd person plural was original used for both plural "you" and out of respect to a superior "(thy")
    • 2nd person plural came to be used to show equal status, thus as a courtesy
• You replaced "thou" and "ye" and became 2nd person singular, formal, and
  • singular you = addressing one person
  • formal you = addressing a person of higher status
  • plural you = addressing more than one person
    • often expressed, especially orally as
      • all of you
      • y'all
      • you all
      • you guys
      • youse guys (New York, Philadelphia dialects)
      • you-uns or yinz (Appalachia, Ozarks regions dialects)

Cases of "you" origins

	2nd person case	Nominative (subject)		Indicative (a command)		Accusative (also "objective" for direct object)		Dative (indirect object)		Genetive (possessive determiner)		Possessive Pronoun		Reflexive
		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
you	singular or plural	you go	you [all] go	You listen!	You [all] listen!	he spoke to you	he speaks to you [all]	he gives you a horse	he gives you (all) a horse					do it yourself	do it yourselves
your / yours	singular / plural									your book	[all] your book	yours	yours
thou	singular subjective (informal)	thou goest
thee	singular objective					he speeketh to thee		he givest thee a horse
thy	singular possessive									thy kingdom				doest it thy self
thine	singular possessive of words that begin w/ a vowel									thine apple		thine		thine own self
ye	plural subjective (or singular formal)		Ye goeth or My Lord, ye goeth	Ye listen!	Hear ye!								youres

• note: the Wikipedia chart on "Personal Pronouns in Middle English" distinguishes between:
  • thy as "possessive determiner"
    • possessive determiner = indicates possession or belonging
      • I like your shoes
  • and "thine" as "possessive pronoun
    • Yours are as good as mine
  • here, we keep "thine" as possessive determiner if the noun it possesses begins with a vowel, so,
    • "thy" precedes consonant
      • thy kingdom
    • "thine" precedes a noun
      • thine apple
  • "thine" is otherwise, as per Wikipedia, a 2nd person singular possessive pronoun
    • it is yours = it is thine

Sources

• Thee vs. Thou vs. They vs. Ye (The Difference) (from all the differences.com)
• Thou (wikipedia)
• You (wikipedia)
• Ye (wikipedia)

Ye as a definite article ("the")

• "Ye Olde Shoppe" as a title or name of a place is used commonly
  • here, "ye" takes on the role of the definite article, "the"
• the replacement of "ye" for "the" was the result of writing practices by early scribes
  • those scribes used the letter "thorn", an Old English character, to represent the "e" in "ye"
    • but that "thorn" character was not available to early printers
    • they used the letter "y" to represent the "th" sound in "the"
    • thus, "the" was for a time written as "ye" (while pronounced "the")

You as generic (indeterminate) person

• "you" is commonly used synonymously as "one" to indicate a generic or indeterminate (not-specific) person
  • as in "You should really think before acting" as general advice, not to a particular person
• also known as the "generic you"