Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:04:49 -0700 "YODAN" <yodan AT yodanco.com> writes:
> 
> Quick response (which I sent to John Gray, who asked the question, 
> but
> realized that it was not sent to the group - others may find this 
> of
> interest):
> 
> Referring to God in plural does not necessarily reflect a concept of 
> a
> plurality of God, but rather a sign of respect.  Similarly to the 
> use of the
> plural "you" in French when addressing someone to whom one wishes to 
> show
> respect (even someone one is not well acquainted with).  Some to 
> think of
> it, I wonder if "you" in English used to have two different forms - 
> a
> singular and a plural - that became one.  Does anyone know?  The use 
> of
> plural when referring to God can also be viewed as similar to the 
> way some
> people use the "we" language (The Royal "We") when they actually 
> refer to
> themselves.
________________

Yes, there was a singular form of the 2nd person pronoun in Middle
English which is no longer used.  It appears in the AV translation as
"thou."

george
gfsomsel
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