þou

See also: thou

Middle English

Alternative forms

thou, þu, thu, þoue, thoue, þowe, thowe, þouȝ, thouȝ, þue, ðhu, þeu, þeou, thugh, thogh, þo, tu, tou, towe, you

Etymology

From Old English þū, from Proto-West Germanic *þū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

(stressed) IPA^(key): /θuː/, /ðuː/
(unstressed) IPA^(key): /ðu/^[1]^[2]
(after /t/, /d/, especially early) IPA^(key): /tuː/, /tu/

Pronoun

þou (accusative þe, genitive þin, possessive determiner þi, þin)

thou (second-person singular pronoun); you^[3]
- c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎^[1], folio 34, recto, lines 36-37; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:
  Stille þou be peter. Wel i þe icnowe. / þou wolt fur ſake me þrien . ar þe coc him crowe.
  "Quiet now, Peter. I know you well; / You'll forsake me three times when the cock crows."

Derived terms

Descendants

English: thou, tha (Yorkshire, Lancashire), thow, thu, du (Scotland), thoo (Orkney)
Scots: thou, du, thoo
Yola: thou, th'

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive	possessive
singular	1st-person		I, ich, ik	me		min mi¹	min
	2nd-person		þou	þe		þin þi¹	þin
	3rd-person	m	he	him hine²	him	his	his hisen
		f	sche, heo	hire heo	hire		hire hires, hiren
		n	hit		hit him²	his, hit	—
dual³	1st-person		wit	unk		unker
dual³	2nd-person		ȝit	inc		inker
plural	1st-person		we	us, ous		oure	oure oures, ouren
	2nd-person⁴		ye	yow		your	your youres, youren
	3rd-person	inh.	he	hem he²	hem	here	here heres, heren
	3rd-person	bor.	þei	þem, þeim		þeir	þeir þeires, þeiren

¹Used preconsonantally or before h.
²Early or dialectal.
³Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English.
⁴Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

References

^ Brink, Daniel (1992) “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
^ Thurber, Beverly A. (2011 February 15) “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 65-81.
^ “thou, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.

[Brink-1] Brink, Daniel (1992) “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21-35.

[Thurber-2] Thurber, Beverly A. (2011 February 15) “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 65-81.

[3] “thou, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.

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