Talk:владыка

Plural

In the text of s:ru:Очарованный странник (Лесков)/Глава первая, this word appears together with plural forms of verbs (велели, решили, узнали, говорят, спрашивают, проснулись, знают, кивают, поняли). Is this typical of the respect associated with the word? Is this something that should be mentioned in the article? --LA2 (talk) 20:43, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

@LA2: Hi. Wrong place to discuss usage again. Please use WT:TR.

No need to change anything on this term, it's not limited to this word. Nouns in singular may occasionally be used with verbs in plural to show respect, sometimes ironically. Another example:

Его́ вели́чество жела́ют вас ви́деть.

Jevó velíčestvo želájut vas vídetʹ.

His majesty wishes to see you.

. (Notifying Benwing2, Cinemantique, KoreanQuoter, Useigor, Wanjuscha, Wikitiki89, Stephen G. Brown, Per utramque cavernam, Guldrelokk): . --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 01:00, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

@Atitarev, LA2 It might be useful to mention this "plural of respect" in the usage notes of various terms that are commonly used in such expressions, perhaps simply with a link to an appendix discussing this. (I didn't know about this usage until now.) In English there's a limited set of terms typically used to refer respectfully to nobility (e.g. majesty, highness, lordship), perhaps the same applies in Russian. Benwing2 (talk) 01:06, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

@Benwing2: Appendices are fine, maybe a mention in appendices for verbs but I don't think we need it in the main space. Pronouns они́ (oní), archaic оне́ (oné) (pre-reform онѣ́ (oně́)) are sometimes used to refer to a single person to show respect. These days, this usage is mostly ironical. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 01:16, 6 July 2018 (UTC)