I learned something

I learned something new, thanks to our vicar/minister, a couple of weeks ago, and was planning to share it on the blog. As usual, it slipped my mind, but as I was walking around outside today, it slipped back in. I hope you enjoy.

I have always thought that the words "thee" and "thou" were a formal way of saying the word "you". In the King James Bible, the Bible that my family read while I was growing up, God and Jesus are always called "thee", "thou", "thy will be done", etc, etc.

When talking with the vicar about something random, I think I must have referenced thee or thou. He stopped and corrected me. In old English (he told me), the words "thee" and "thou" were actually an INFORMAL way of saying the word "you". The word "ye" was used formally.

If you think about it, it actually makes sense. In most languages, God is referred to in the informal tense, rather than the formal tense. Germans use "du" instead of "Sie" when referring to God. I forget the Spanish words, but I know it's the same. My college roommate, when studying in France, met a woman on the street. Somehow they got onto religious topics, and when my roommate mentioned that she was a Christian, the French woman immediately switched from the formal way of speaking to the informal.

Most cultures, it seems, consider speaking to God a personal and intimate thing, therefore demanding the "you" tense to be informal. I suppose, one more example might be the story of when we met our German relatives. Nate and I were taught to use the "Sie" form of speaking with adults and strangers. When we first started speaking to our relatives, we used the "Sie" form without thought. Immediately, we were corrected. Family, loved ones, ALWAYS use "du", we were informed, and duly corrected when we forget again.

To make a rapidly growing story come to an end, I find it comforting to think that thee and thou are "family" words. I don't think that the informal tense makes the reference less holy, just maybe more loving... and I like that.