In fact, had a courtier addressed Henry VIII as “Thy Majesty” he would have been in danger of losing his head and certainly would have been under immediate arrest.
Why?
“Ye” & “You” and “Your” were not only used as second person plural but also, in a limited way, as a polite forms of address, second person singular, in the sixteenth century and before. Certainly “Thou, Thee, Thy & Thine” were the forms of the second person singular always used for translating into English from other languages (see the English Bibles of the 16th & 17th centuries). And in everyday speech, “Thou, Thee, Thy & Thine” were used between equals and to juniors and inferiors. Further, “Thou, Thee, Thy & Thine” was the normal language of intimacy between family members and between lovers.
So “Ye, You, & Your” was mostly used for the second person plural but also was used when addressing superiors and when seeking to be polite, where good manners counted (and there are several examples of this in The Book of Common Prayer, 1549, 1552, 1662). However, “Thou, Thee, Thy & Thine” always and only has been used as the second person singular, never as plural.
GOD & language
One of the more interesting facts about the language of prayer in English as it developed as a separate form from Latin public prayer is that God was always and only addressed as “Thou, thee, thy & thine” when, on the analogy of the way the Sovereign was addressed, perhaps we would have expected “Ye, you & your.”
“Thou, thee, thy & thine” were chosen for the language of public and common prayer for three reasons:
- In the Latin, Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible & in traditional church texts, God is addressed through the second person singular, always and only.
- The basic confession of faith is that “The Lord thy God is One God” and thus a clear second person singular is required to maintain this doctrine.
- God adopts believers in Christ Jesus by grace as his children and thus they are intimate with him: thus they address him as “Thou/Thee”.
The addressing of the Lord our God in this way was virtually universal amongst English speakers from its beginnings in the medieval world until the middle of the twentieth century. Now it is used by only a minority of English speakers; but they use it with conviction believing that it is the right way – in fact for them – the only way to address God both reverently and as his children and in maintaining the reality of his Unity. He is One God in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity for there is one and only one Godhead. To use “You” fails to uphold the best practice and understanding of what a great privilege it is to speak to YHWH, the LORD, the Trinity in UNITY.
[See further Peter Toon & Louis Tarsitano, NEITHER ARCHAIC NOR OBSOLETE. The Language of Common Prayer and Public Worship, ISBN 0 0907839 75 4, http://www.edgewaysbooks.com/, and http://www.anglicanmarketplace.com/ or call in the USA 1 800 727 1928]
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)
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