ye en · PRON · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- yē (UK, US)
- /jɪ/ (unstressed)
- /jiː/ (UK, US)
- [ji(ː)] (UK, US)
- (US) audio
- [jɪi] (UK, US)
- /jə/ (unstressed)
- /(j)iː/ stressed form
Etymology
From Middle English ye, ȝe, from Old English ġē (“ye”), the nominative case of the second-person plural personal pronoun, from Proto-West Germanic *jiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *jīz, a North-West variant of Proto-Germanic *jūz (“ye”), from Proto-Indo-European *yúHs (“ye”), plural of *túh₂. Cognate with Scots ye (“ye”), Saterland Frisian jie, Dutch gij, ge, jij, je (“ye”), Low German ji, jie (“ye”), German ihr (“ye”), Danish and Swedish I (“ye”), Icelandic ér (“ye”), Latvian jūs (“ye”), Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám, “ye”). See also you.
Meanings
-
(Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, personal, pronoun, qualifier:archaic outside Northern England; Ottawa Valley; archaic outside Northern England; Ottawa Valley) You (the people being addressed).
Queſtion me then no more; whate'er ye want, / Ask in my Name, and God ſhall ſurely grant. / You've asked nothing yet for Jesus sake : / Ask and receive, and of my joyes partake.
1671, Elisha Coles, chapter 6, in ΧΡΙΣΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ: Or, a Metrical Paraphraſe on the Hiſtory of Our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt : Dedicated to His Univerſal Church:My liefe (ſayd ſhe) ye know, that long ygo, / Whileſt ye in durance dwelt, ye to me gaue / A little mayde, the which ye chylded tho ; / The ſame againe if now ye liſt to haue, / The ſame is yonder Lady, whom high God did ſaue.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 512:Know Ye that We have declared and by these Presents do declare our Will and Pleasure as follows—[…]
1995, Elizabeth II, “Legal Notice 247 of 1996”, in Hong Kong Government Gazette, page B1096:Was anyone hurted? Sure, they were just trailin' theirselves off the ground. Ye wud have died larfin'. There's Jimmy Hanlon was never his own man since, and I had me nose broke on me—I find it yet—and some says there was a wee girl from Tanderagee got herself killed.
1915, Charles L Graves, Humours of Irish life, pages 241-242:
-
(archaic, personal, pronoun) You (the singular person being addressed).
Maybe they'd get hurted!" said the boys. "Hurted, how-are-ye!" says Hughie; "How could anyone get hurted so simple as that? I'd be the last in the world to speak of such a thing in that case! But if yous are afraid of doing it..."
1915, Charles L Graves, Humours of Irish life, page 255:Know ye now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; [...]
1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 23:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| yee | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
yere · oh ye of little faith · ye'd · O ye of little faith · ye gods and little fishes · yeres · abandon hope, all ye who enter here · seek and ye shall find · harkye · ye'll · ye've · ye of little faith · y'ere · ye're · ye gods · hear ye · thank ye · how do ye do · d'ye · we hardly knew ye · all hope abandon ye who enter here · come-all-ye · thank ye so very much