Re:In Defense of Y'All
by Dracophoenix on Thursday December 19, 2024 @12:08PM
(#42463470)
> "What is thy bidding, my master" is therefore foreshadowing of later insubordination.
The usage of "thy" in this instance was probably used to reflect the style and diction of the Pater Noster (i.e. "thy Kingdom come\thy will be done"...)
In response, Prof. John Dyer recently created the "Y'all" version of the Bible: https://yallversion.com/
The formality/informality distinction is between You/Ye and Thou/Thee.
Plural 2nd person used to formally address a single individual came to English from French, thanks to the Norman Conquest.
French, I think, inherited it from Latin, and the custom of addressing the emperor with the plural.
After a while it became rude to address people with the informal 2nd person singular.
By the time of the King James Bible, iirc, English had already switched to universal "you", and "thou" was brought back in order to indicate where the source text had used a singular versus a plural.
"What is thy bidding, my master" is therefore foreshadowing of later insubordination.