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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

who be thee?

English answer:

ye

Added to glossary by literary
Mar 4, 2008 08:38
16 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term

who be thee?

English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
"who are you?". Quite a lot of hits on Google.
The question is: can this "thee" refer to two persons (plural)?
Responses
3 +3 ye
4 +5 who are you
4 +1 singular only
3 +1 Yes, I think it could possibly be singular or plural.

Discussion

Bashiqa Mar 4, 2008:
Bein' a Sheffield lad wi family in 'uddersfield, ah wud say "tha" an' not "thee". I think Andrew L. is quite right to say singular only. Complete translation "ou art tha?" for "Who are you?" or "Wer's tha bin?" for "Where have you been?"
Carol Gullidge Mar 4, 2008:
hmmmmh... if it's ficticious it could be anything! But perhaps it's based on a real (Yorkshire?) dialect. In any case, I feel it's highly unlikely to be plural.
literary (asker) Mar 4, 2008:
North of London, rather far north. Lots of hunting, rich aristocrats. The county is fictitious.
Carol Gullidge Mar 4, 2008:
You don't mention which is the remote English county - but that would make a big difference...
Carol Gullidge Mar 4, 2008:
I'm not an expert, but I believe that the Yorkshire dialect currently still uses "thou" (singular) a lot - more than in Devon, where " ye " or " 'e " is used. Maybe a gd idea to get confirmation from someone from that part of the world...?
literary (asker) Mar 4, 2008:
The year is 2006, a local elderly woman in a remote English county is the speaker.
Armorel Young Mar 4, 2008:
What is the context? What dialect or historical period is this an attempt to recreate? The more usual wording, if this is trying to be "old" English, would of course be "Who art thou?"

Responses

+3
7 mins
Selected

ye

The plural of thou/thee is ye. However, I would hesitate to recommend "Who be ye" without knowing what the context or period is.
Peer comment(s):
agree writeaway : yes, ye is the plural. imho, the 'be' is used because it's actually subjunctive: who (would/might) thee be ?
2 mins
agree Vicky Nash
2 hrs
agree Alexandra Tussing
1 day 18 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks!"
+1
3 mins

singular only

"Thee/Thou" were only used as singular pronouns, object and nominative respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thee
Peer comment(s):
agree Gary D : Mostly used in Plays, and can also apply to a Fictitious ‎ character, like a ghost. I use "Thee" in poems I write, look at my profile
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
6 mins

Yes, I think it could possibly be singular or plural.

Strictly speaking this is ungrammatical, since "thee" in Old English is the accusative form of "thou", which is the second person singular. But this is in a dialect of some kind, so I don't think you can be sure that the strict rules of grammar apply. "Who art thou?" in good Old English could only be singular.
Peer comment(s):
neutral writeaway : it's not ungrammatical. it's ye olde English subjunctive. Who (might) thee be ?
1 min
agree Gary D
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
+5
4 mins

who are you

that should be right

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Note added at 11 мин (2008-03-04 08:50:00 GMT)
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more like one person...

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Note added at 1 дн4 мин (2008-03-05 08:42:40 GMT)
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The word ‘thee’ is used as a pronoun and the meaning that you can figure out from the use of this word is ‘you’. The word has another peculiarity about itself and you can use it only when you are talking to only one person and the person should be the object of the verb.

Though the word exists but these days seldom can you find a person using it as it is considered as of old use; you is the word that is used by people in modern day English. If somebody is using the word in modern day English, it is hardly used in prose and only poets have the quality to use these archaic words for the sake of better effect or sometimes to create musical effect.


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Note added at 1 дн4 мин (2008-03-05 08:43:20 GMT)
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from: http://www.blurtit.com/q584612.html
Peer comment(s):
agree Jonathan MacKerron
21 mins
agree Carol Gullidge : still used today (though rarely, as the dialect disappears...) in Devon, where I live. You also still frequently hear 'ow be 'ee? (how be ye?) used in the singular
28 mins
agree Alfa Trans (X)
11 hrs
agree Alexandra Tussing
1 day 18 hrs
agree V_Nedkov
3 days 7 hrs
Something went wrong...
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