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adjacent
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Native English speakers! Please tell me all the words you know which is in the same genre as :Thou,thy,thine,shalt and Lo!. They are the only old words I know.
Then why do I see those words in translations of Bible and Quran?collinsmark said:If I'm not mistaken, English once had formal and informal pronouns like many other languages have today.
Words such as "thou," "thy," "thine," and such were informal, in that these were words you would speak to a familiar or child. They were eventually (and chaotically) replaced by the formal versions of the words, "you," "your," and "yours."
"Thee"adjacent said:Native English speakers! Please tell me all the words you know which is in the same genre as :Thou,thy,thine,shalt and Lo!. They are the only old words I know.
collinsmark said:If I'm not mistaken, English once had formal and informal pronouns like many other languages have today.
AlephZero said:is use in jokes such as royal impersonators saying things like "our husband and we" for "my husband and I".
AlephZero said:The plural is also used by high ranking people when referring to themselves
DrGreg said:Margaret Thatcher once said "We have become a grandmother".
The English of the period is called Early Modern English. Shakespeare and King James' Bible are prime examples of the langue.adjacent said:Native English speakers! Please tell me all the words you know which is in the same genre as :Thou,thy,thine,shalt and Lo!. They are the only old words I know.
Zounds! Gadzooks! Are those the only archaic words you know? The English language contains divers words, from a to izzard, that are no longer in use.Thy old words used above:adjacent said:Native English speakers! Please tell me all the words you know which is in the same genre as :Thou,thy,thine,shalt and Lo!. They are the only old words I know.
AlephZero said:The basic difference was between singular and plural, not formal and informal. Thou, thee, thy, etc are singular. You, your, etc are plural.
European languages like French and German use the plural form instead of the singular in formal language, and the singular form only in informal situations ("tu" and "vous" in French). In standard English the "informal" form is never used, so effectively "you" has become both singular and plural.
Verbing weirds languageBen Niehoff said:One line is even "I thou thee!" (or, "I call you 'thou'!").
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/twn_3_2.htmlthou "towards strangers who were not inferiors was an insult," Abb. § 233. Theobald believed there was an allusion here to the insulting language used by Attorney-General Coke towards Sir W. Raleigh in his trial, "All that he did was by thy instigation, thou viper, for I thou thee, thou traitor!" but the play is known to have been acted in 1601-2, while the trial did not take place till November, 1603.
Ben Niehoff said:Originally, yes. However, ...
Different languages adopted different strategies to indicate formality. In German, one replaces "du" with "Sie" ("they"), which is third person plural. In Spanish, "tu" is replaced with "usted", from "vuestra merced", or "your (pl) grace".
English adopted the same pattern as French, where "thou" became the familiar form, and "you" the formal form. This was the usage in Shakespeare's time, which is evidenced in his plays. You can see characters call someone "you" until they are angry, and then call them "thou" as an insult. One line is even "I thou thee!" (or, "I call you 'thou'!"). (Sorry, but I forget which play.)
SteamKing said:Over time, the perfect tense auxiliary verb in English has shifted from forms of 'to be' to forms of 'to have'.
jtbell said:In German, the distinction is actually between transitive verbs (those that take direct objects) and intransitive verbs (those that don't.)
Er schreibt ein Buch (He is writing a book) --> Er hat ein Buch geschrieben (He has written a book)
Er verschwindet (He is disappearing) --> Er ist verschwunden (He has disappeared)
Vanadium 50 said:Please, please. It's Thine old words!
Old English vocabulary refers to the words and phrases that were used in the English language between the years 450 and 1100. It is the earliest form of the English language and has many words and grammatical structures that are different from modern English.
There is no exact number for the amount of words in Old English vocabulary, as it is a constantly evolving language. However, it is estimated that there are around 24,000 words in Old English.
Some common words in Old English include "beon" (to be), "wesan" (to be), "mod" (mind), "eall" (all), and "hwæt" (what). These words may look and sound different from their modern English counterparts.
Old English vocabulary evolved over time through a combination of linguistic influences, including the arrival of the Vikings and the Normans, the introduction of Latin words through Christian missionaries, and the gradual changes in pronunciation and spelling.
Yes, there are some similarities between Old English vocabulary and modern English. Many common words in modern English, such as "father," "mother," and "house," have their roots in Old English. Additionally, some Old English words are still used in modern English, although their meanings may have changed over time.