d1f428eb   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: jon.lennart.beck.its.my.name@mail.its.in.danmark   
      
   "Christopher Kreuzer"  skrev i meddelelsen   
   news:bd742f62-10f3-49d8-b4a9-18a283223f2d@h11g2000vbc.googlegroups.com...   
      
      
   > And the scene where the minstrel of Gondor sings the lay of   
   > Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom, includes in   
   > his acknowledgment of those present the phrase "and ye sons   
   > of Elrond". Admittedly, "you" would be a bit rude there, but   
   > can anyone explain the form of 'ye' being used there? Why   
   > use 'ye' for the sons of Elrond and not for the other groups assembled   
   > there? Is it different when addressing a group of two than when   
   > addressing a larger group?   
      
      In earlier English "ye", cognate to modern Danish "I", was the subject   
   form of the second person plural pronoun, while "you" was the object form,   
   cognate to modern Danish "jer", I suppose.   
      Addressing a single person: "Thou hast chosen well; the boots fit thee."   
      Addressing a group: "Ye have chosen well; the boots fit you."   
      Then two things happened: "ye" fell out of use and "you" was used in both   
   roles, as has happened with other case forms in English and other languages.   
   And "thou" and "thee" fell out of use because the English became so   
   enormously polite that they used the polite form, which coincided with the   
   plural pronoun, exclusively. :-)   
      
   Hrafn.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)