thees and thous

08:35 Oct 9, 2015

This question was closed without grading. Reason: Answer found elsewhere

English to Serbian translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: thees and thous

Znam da se ova dva termina odnose na ti, koje u danasnjem engleskom ne postoje. Potrazila sa nesto slicno u staroslovenskom sto bi mozda odgovaralo, ali zamenice su gotovo iste kao i danas, definitivno nema nikakve razlike izmedju jednine i mnozine. Bila bih vam zahvalna na predlozima kako ovo da resim.

The only thing that they can really point to and say, "Well this is where we made it a lot easier", is getting rid of the "thees" and the "thous", but you've got to have the "thees" and the "thous" because the "thees" and the "thous" are singular and the "you, yee, your" is plural. The ones that start with a TH are singular; the ones that start with a Y are plural. It affects the meaning because you often would have no way of knowing whether he's talking to one person or the whole group unless you had the "thees" and the "thous" there to tell you that.

Marijana Asanin KudoZ activity Questions: 83 (none open) (2 without valid answers) (4 closed without grading) Answers: 36 Spain
Local time: 14:26

Summary of answers provided

tikanje

Vesna Maširević

Summary of reference entries provided

Vladimir Nadj

Answers

3 days 8 hrs confidence:

tikanje

Explanation:
(nasuprot "vikanju")
Ako insistirate na prevodu.
Mada bi, u zavisnosti od konteksta i namene teksta, mozda bilo prikladnije ostaviti "thee" i "thou", uz navodjenje prevoda i objasnjenja, mozda u fusnoti.

Vesna Maširević
Serbia
Local time: 14:26
Native speaker of:

Serbian,

Serbo-Croat
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: Hvala Vam, ipak sam odlucila da ih ne prevodim.

Reference comments

1 hr peer agreement (net): +1

Reference

Reference information:
By the fifteenth century the use of thee/thou and you/your was a firmly established index of social status. That is something of an oversimplified statement, though, because the words were also used to express relationships among family and neighbor groups. If you were a person of low social rank, in talking to someone of high rank you would address him/her with the words you and your, whereas he/she would use thee/thou in talking to you. Within the family the parent may address the child as thou, and if the parent assents to it the child may address him/her likewise, so it becomes an expression of affection. Lovers will address each other as thou. It’s similar to the French use of tu instead of the more formal vous.

For the most part in Shakespeare’s plays, those of high status will address those they consider to be beneath them as thou, and those of lower status will address their superiors as you. But the use of those words is also an opportunity to create undercurrents and subtleties in the relationships between characters. A character can express his or her sense of importance by addressing someone of the same rank with ‘thee’, for example, thereby sending a message about that relationship. Not only that, but a rebellious subject, for example, may address his king with thee. That would be an insult of monumental proportions. Two people of equal rank, talking to each other, would use the polite form of ‘you’ but if one started becoming too familiar the other might put him down with the use of ‘thou’.

http://nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/thee-and-thou-what-does-i...

Vladimir Nadj
Serbia
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Serbo-Croat,

Serbian

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