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Origin and history of thou

thou(pron.)

the now-little-used 2nd nominative singular personal pronoun, Old English þu, from Proto-Germanic *thu (source also of Old Frisian thu, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German du, Old High German and German du, Old Norse þu, Gothic þu), from PIE *tu-, second person singular pronoun (source also of Latin tu, Irish tu, Welsh ti, Greek su, Lithuanian tu, Old Church Slavonic ty, Sanskrit twa-m).

It was superseded in Middle English by plural form you (from a different root), but retained in certain dialects (e.g. early Quakers). The plural at first was used in addressing superior individuals, later also (to err on the side of propriety) strangers, and ultimately all equals. By c. 1450 the use of thou to address inferiors gave it a tinge of insult unless addressed by parents to children, or intimates to one another. Hence the verb meaning "to use 'thou' to a person" (mid-15c.).

Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee!
["Hickscorner," c. 1530]

A brief history of the second person pronoun in English can be found here. Related: Thou-self "you, yourself." Archaic language preserves the enclitic use of it, attached to a preceding auxiliary, artou? hastou?

Entries linking to thou

you(pron.)

Middle English, from Old English eow, dative and accusative plural of þu (see thou) and objective case of ge, "ye" (see ye), from Proto-Germanic *juz-, *iwwiz (source also of Old Norse yor, Old Saxon iu, Old Frisian iuwe, Middle Dutch, Dutch u, Old High German iu, iuwih, German euch), from PIE *yu, second person (plural) pronoun.

The pronunciations of you and the nominative form ye gradually merged from 14c.; the distinction between them passed out of general usage by 1600.

Widespread use of French in England after 12c. gave English you the same association as French vous, and it began to drive out singular nominative thou, first as a sign of respect (similar to the "royal we") when addressing superiors, then equals and strangers, and ultimately (by c. 1575) becoming the general form of address.

You know as a parenthetical filler is from 1712, but it has roots in 14c.; as as a euphemism for a thing or situation unmentionable it is from 1867. You never know as a response to something unexpected is attested from 1924.

Phrase you-know-what in place of something deliberately not named is by c. 1600 (1540s as you wot what). You-know-who (or whom) for a person it is thought best not to name (but implying the hearer knows) is by 1766. You never know as a response to something unexpected is attested from 1924.

Through 13c. English also retained a dual pronoun ink "you two; your two selves; each other."

holier-than-thou

as an adjectival phrase in reference to supercilious sanctimony attested by 1841. The text is in Isaiah lxv.5. See holy (v.) + thou.


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thee
Old English þe (accusative and dative singular of þu "thou"), from Proto-Germanic *theke (source also of Old Frisian thi, Middle Dutch di, Old High German dih, German dich, Old Norse þik, Norwegian deg, Gothic þuk), from PIE *tege-, accusative of root *tu-, second person singular
thine
Old English þin, possessive pronoun (originally genitive of þu "thou"), from Proto-Germanic *thinaz (source also of Old Frisian, Old Saxon thin, Middle Dutch dijn, Old High German din, German dein, Old Norse þin), from PIE *t(w)eino-, suffixed form of second person singular prono
ye
Old English ge, nominative plural of 2nd person pronoun þu (see thou); cognate with Old Frisian ji, Old Saxon gi, Middle Dutch ghi, Dutch gij. Cognate with Lithuanian jūs, Sanskrit yuyam, Avestan yuzem, Greek hymeis. Altered, by influence of we, from an earlier form that was simi
holystone
Six days shalt thou labor as hard as thou art able And on the seventh holystone the decks and scrape the cable ["The...
hazel
sense of "reddish-brown color of eyes" (in reference to the color of ripe hazel-nuts), when Mercutio accuses Benvolio: Thou...wilt quarrell with a man for cracking Nuts, hauing no reason, but because thou hast hasell eyes....
Z
Thou whoreson Zed, thou vnnecessary Letter....
elision
vowel (or an h) at the beginning of another" [Saintsbury, "Manual of English Prosody"], as in Shakespeare's Do't, and thou...hast the one half of my heart ; Do't not, thou splitt'st thine own....
M
13th letter of the English alphabet, from Greek mu, from Semitic mem. It represents a very stable and unchanging sound in Indo-European, described by Johnson as "a kind of humming inward." The Roman symbol for 1,000; sometimes used in this sense in English 15c.-16c.; but in late
grand
late 14c., grant "large, big" (early 12c. in surnames), from Anglo-French graunt and directly from Old French grant, grand (10c., Modern French grand) "large, tall; grown-up; great, powerful, important; strict, severe; extensive; numerous," from Latin grandis "big, great; full, a
K
eleventh Roman letter, from Greek kappa, from Phoenician kaph or a similar Semitic source, said to mean literally "hollow of the hand" and to be so called for its shape. Little used in classical Latin, which at an early age conformed most of its words (the exceptions had ritual i

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