The informality ofthou and its replacement byye in formal situations date only to the 14th century and come from French influence, since French (as many European languages, but not Old English) uses the second-person plural (vous) instead of the second-person singular (tu) as a mark of politeness or respect.
[...] Awakethou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall giuethee light.
1742 April 4,Charles Wesley,A Sermon Preached on Sunday, April 4, 1742. Before the University of Oxford, London: Printed by J. Paramore,[…], published1783,→OCLC,page10:
Artthou in earnest aboutthy soul? and canstthou tell the Searcher of Hearts,Thou, O God, art the thing that I long for? Lord,Thou knowest all things,Thou knowest that I would lovethee?
When the subject of a verb in the indicative mood isthou, the verb usually ends in-est, in both the present and simple past tenses, as in “Lovest thou me?” (from John 21:17 of the King James Bible). This is the case even for modal verbs, which do not specially conjugate for the third person singular.
In weak past tenses, the ending is-edst, e.g.,vowedst.
In the present subjunctive, as is normal, the bare form is usually used, e.g., "I ask that thoulisten to me" (instead oflistenest). However,thoubeest is sometimes used instead ofthou be.
Traditionally, use ofthou andye followed theT–V distinction,thou being the informal pronoun andye, the plural, being used in its place in formal situations. This is preserved in the dialects in whichthou is still in everyday use, but in Standard English, due to the pronoun’s association with religious texts and poetry, some speakers find it more solemn or even formal.
Occasionallythou was, and to a lesser extent still is, used to represent a translated language’s second-person singular-plural distinction, disregarding English’s T–V distinction by translating the second-person singular asthou even where English would likely useye instead. It is also sometimes still used to represent a translated language’s T–V distinction.
Don’tthou them asthous thee! – a Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children
c.1530, “Hickscorner”, inW[illiam] Carew Hazlitt, editor,A Select Collection of Old English Plays. Originally Published by Robert Dodsley in the Year 1744.[…], 4th edition, volume I, London: Reeves and Turner,[…], published1874,page180:
Avaunt,caitiff, dost thouthou me! / I am come of good kin, I tell thee! / My mother was a lady of the stews' blood born, / And (knight of the halter) my father ware an horn; / Therefore I take it in full great scorn, / That thou shouldest thus check me.
[T]aunt him with the licenſe of Inke: if thouthou'ſt him some thrice, it ſhall not be amiſſe, and as many Lyes, as will lye in thy ſheete of paper, although the ſheete were bigge enough for thebedde ofWare in England, ſet 'em downe, go about it.
1603 November 27, “The Tryal of Sir Walter Raleigh Kt. at Winton, on Thursday the 17th of November, Anno. Dom. 1603. in the First Year of KingJames the First”, in[Thomas Salmon], editor,A Compleat Collection of State-Tryals, and Proceedings upon Impeachment for High Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours;[…] In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Timothy Goodwin,[…]; John Walthoe[…]; Benj[amin] Tooke[…]; John Darby[…];Jacob Tonson[…]; and John Walthoe Jun.[…], published1719,→OCLC,page177, column 2:
1677, William Gibson, “An Answer toJohn Cheyney’s Pamphlet EntituledThe Shibboleth of Quakerism”, inThe Life of God, which is the Light and Salvation of Men, Exalted:[…],[London]:[s.n.],→OCLC,page134:
What! doſt thou not believe that God'sThouing andTheeing was and is ſound Speech? [...] AndTheeing &Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, [...]
The emperors beforeRodolphus I. ſent all their mandates in Latin,thouing every prince, as the grammar of that language allows. Thisthouing of the counts of the empire was continued in the German language which diſallows ſuch expreſſions.
Unfortunate we the duennas! though we descended in a direct male-line fromHector of Troy, our mistresses will never forbear "thouing" us, were they to be made queens for it.
"One service more,Sahib, since thou hast come so opportunely," said Lalun. "Wilt thou"–it is very nice to bethou-ed by Lalun–"take this old man across the City—the troops are everywhere, and they might hurt him for he is old—to the Kumharsen Gate?["]
1917, Russell Osborne Stidston, “Inferiors to Superiors”, inThe Use of Ye in the Function of Thou in Middle English Literature from Ms. Auchinleck to Ms. Vernon: A Study of Grammar and Social Intercourse in Fourteenth-century England:[…], Stanford, Calif.:Stanford University,→OCLC, section 1 (The Higher Classes to Royalty),page22:
InGuy a duke in councilthous his emperor [...] InBevis the earl addresses the emperor of Almaine [...] while the young son of the family, Bevis,thous him not only as his father's murderer [...], but even when he is pretending friendship for him [...].
2006,Julian Dibbell, chapter5, inPlay Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.:Basic Books,→ISBN:
The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing andthouing all the same.
2009, David R. Keeston[pseudonym; Alan D. Jenkins], “Seeing God in the Ordinary”, inThe Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Gospel,[Morrisville, N.C.]:Lulu.com,→ISBN,page39:
You want to hear the word of God, and be challenged to go out and change the world. Instead, you are, for the fifth Sunday in a row, mewling on about purple-headed mountains (which is a bit of an imaginative stretch, since you live in East Anglia) and "theeing" and "thouing" all over the place.
We just wanted to take off a fewthou, which we easily did with fine sandpaper.
1946 November and December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, inRailway Magazine, page344:
But to continue, "At Horwich they had gone all scientific, and talked in 'thous.,' though apparently some of their work was to the nearest half-inch.[…]."
All these methods remove metal and can, in fact, remove a fewthou from the surface. For accurately machined parts, therefore, none of these methods are suitable but wet blasting with a fine alumina which gives a polishing–cleaning action may be operated within the required tolerances.
2000, Mike Bishop, Vern Tardel, “Bells and Whistles”, inHow to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod, revised edition, Osceola, Wis.:MBI Publishing Company,→ISBN,page131, column 2:
Make no mistake, we’re talking about some major repositioning; the rear ends of the cones didn’t move just a fewthou’ or even 1/4 or 1/2 inch in one direction. These beauties moved around big time.
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page31
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, March 2012;“thou1,pron.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
thou on Wikipedia.Wikipedia