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    Why have 'thou, thee and thy' been dismissed from English?

    Question #62312. Asked by loominitsa. (Feb 06 06 11:14 AM)


    lanfranco

    		According to this site, at one time (in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries), "thou" and "thee" were used for singular, familiar address and "you" for plural and polite address. As the process of dropping most declensions from English and modernizing it continued apace, the plural/polite "you" gained favor for all situations:

    http://www.alt-usage-english.org/pronoun_paradigms.html





    Feb 06 06, 11:53 AM
    mementoflash

    		Though, thee, and thy have never been dismissed from English; rather, as our language naturally evolves other words of the same meaning take precedent.

    Feb 06 06, 11:45 PM

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