þou

See also: thou

Middle English

þou (accusative þe, genitive þin, possessive determiner þi, þin)

thou (second-person singular pronoun); you^[3]
- c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39), folio 34, recto, lines 36-37; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:
  Stille þou be peter. Wel i þe icnowe. / þou wolt fur ſake me þrien . ar þe coc him crowe.
  "Quiet now, Peter. I know you well; / You'll forsake me three times when the cock crows."

From around 1300, a T–V distinction emerged in Middle English where formal ye was used to address one's superiors, elders or others to whom one might wish to show politeness or respect, while informal þou was used to address inferiors and younger generations.
When both speakers were of approximately equal status, the rules regarding the use of informal þou and formal ye were relatively fluid: speakers could indiscriminately alternate between them or employ them to provide subtle emotional cues, such as "moments of emotional intensity or intimacy" in courtly relationships or as a demonstration of contempt or disapproval.^[4]^[5]^[6]

^ Brink, Daniel (1992), “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
^ Thurber, Beverly A. (15 February 2011), “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 65-81.
^ “thou, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.
^ Burnley, David (1983), “1. Chaucer's Grammar”, in A guide to Chaucer's language‎^[1], Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 18.
^ Horobin, Simon (2003), “6. Chaucer’s Grammar”, in The Language of the Chaucer Tradition (Chaucer Studies; 32), Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 114.
^ Mossé, Fernand (1952), “IX. Elements of the Sentence”, in James A. Walker, transl., A Handbook of Middle English‎^[2], I. Grammar: Part Three. The Sentence, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, translation of Manuel du l'Anglais de Moyen Age des Origines au XIVe Siècle (in French), →OCLC, § 118, page 94.

þou

þou

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive	possessive
singular	1st person		I, ich, ik	me		min mi¹	min
	2nd person		þou	þe		þin þi¹	þin
	3rd person	m	he	him hine²	him	his	his hisen
		f	sche, heo	hire heo	hire		hire hires, hiren
		n	hit		hit him²	his, hit	—
dual³	1st person		wit	unk		unker
dual³	2nd person		ȝit	inc		inker
plural	1st person		we	us, ous		oure	oure oures, ouren
	2nd person⁴		ye	yow		your	your youres, youren
	3rd person	inh.	he	hem he²	hem	here	here heres, heren
	3rd person	bor.	þei	þem, þeim		þeir	þeir þeires, þeiren