Ga ~ Go ~ Ha ~ Har ~ He ~ Ho ~ I ~ J ~ Ka ~ Ki
Km ~ Kr ~ La ~ Le ~ Li ~ Ma ~ Mc ~ Md ~ Mi ~ Na
Ne ~ O ~ Pa ~ Pe ~ Ph ~ Ra ~ Ro ~ Sa ~ Schu ~ Si
Sta ~ Ste ~ TU ~ V ~ Wa ~ Wh ~ Wo ~ XYZ
This page submitted by John Neitz; Earl of Wessex
Renspeak ~ You/Ye Thee/Thou
Billy the Bard addressed well the grammar aspects of you, thee & thou. I will expound a little more on the social aspect of these forms of address.
To choose between addressing someone as "you" or "thee/thou:"
Thee/Thou is the informal/friendly second person singular. Use it when speaking to a friend or someone of lower social status than yourself.
You is the formal, polite second person singular address. Use it when speaking to someone of higher status or to one who is not a close friend.
Note that in modern English usage the informal thee/thou has fallen out of use--everyone gets the formal/polite treatment. Ever notice how we call anyone a lady or a gentleman so that those words are now meaningless? ("Yes, officer, that drunken homeless gentleman over there was urinating on the sidewalk.")
We also use the honorifics "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Miss" (or at least the modern "Ms.") for darn near anyone even though before this century they were reserved for persons of higher status. These terms derive from "Master" and "Mistress" which were technically only for gentlemen and gentlewomen (i.e. about 1% of the population).
Change your sentence structure a bit. "I discussed the issue with him"
The lesson here is that renaissance English was much more sensitive to the stratification of social classes. This basic social inequality was to some extent reflected in the language, right down to such basic elements as grammar. Times have changed and we are much more "democratic" now, so language has changed along with society.
The romance languages (such as Spanish or French) still have both forms. In Spanish "tu" is analogous to thee/thou while "usted" is like "you."
I have noticed many people at fest, such as shopkeepers, pull out what they believe is their most formal language when they are visited by the royalty. This often means they struggle along with "thee/thou" in addressing the King & Queen when they should properly be using "you" (the phrase "Thy Majesty" doesn't make sense, does it? It's "Your Majesty."). We don't criticize them-- they are putting forth an effort. But now you all know that its (grammatically!) easy to address the nobility--just use the modern "you" form.
Good News! In my opinion use of "Thees & Thous" is optional!
Any renfest character can completely ignore "thees & thous" because the formal-second-person form ("you") is perfectly period. Since the "you" form is what we use in everyday modern English there is no need to learn something new (assuming you already know modern English ;-).
With that in mind anyone who would *like* to practice "thees & thous" is therefore doing more than is expected of them, but I am willing to help those who want help. Its NOT really all that difficult.
Futhermore, if you do choose to use "thees & thous" in your speech, I assure you that the patrons will still understand you
