Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word ye. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word ye, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say ye in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word ye you have here. The definition of the word ye will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofye, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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.
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:
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.
1995, Elizabeth II, “Legal Notice 247 of 1996”, in Hong Kong Government Gazette, page B1096:
Know Ye that We have declared and by these Presents do declare our Will and Pleasure as follows—[…]
(archaic)You (the singular person being addressed).
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; [...]
Usage notes
Ye was originally used only for the nominative case (as the subject), and only for the second-person plural. Later, ye was used as a subject or an object, either singular or plural, which is the way that you is used today. In modern Hiberno-English usage, ye is used as a subject or an object in the plural, to contrast with you (singular).
Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “ye”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group, archived from the original on 2024-09-05.
Etymology 2
From Middle Englishþe. Early presstypographies lacked the letter þ(“thorn”), for which the letter y was substituted due to their resemblance in blackletter hand (etymological y was for a while distinguished by a dot, ẏ). Short form yͤ continued long after the digraph th had replaced þ elsewhere.
Now vnto yͤ king eternal, immortall, inuiſible, the onely wiſe God, be honour and glory for euer ⁊ euer. Amen.
1647, The old deluder, Satan, Act. (cited in American Public School Law, K. Alexander, M. Alexander, 1995)
It being one cheife proiect of ye ould deluder, Satan, to keepe men from the knowledge of Scriptures, as in formr times by keeping ym in an unknowne tongue, so in these lattr times by perswading from ye use of tongues, yt so at least ye true sence & meaning of ye originall might be clouded by false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in ye church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting or endeavors,—
Many of Catawba's names for tribes incorporate this word, e.g. yę iswa(“the Catawba”, literally “people of the river”), yę manterą(“the Cherokee”, literally “people born in/on the land”).
The vowel of this word is generally nasalized; this is reflected in different ways or not at all in different transcriptions: ye, yę, yen. Sometimes, an initial i, also nasalized, is found: inyen / įyę.
References
1858, Oscar M. Lieber, Vocabulary of the Catawba Language
1900, Albert S. Gatschet, Grammatic Sketch of the Catawba Language (published in the American Anthropologist)
1942, Frank G. Speck and C. E. Shaeffer, Catawba Kinship and Social Organization
1945, Frank T. Siebert, Jr., Linguistic Classification of Catawba (published in the International Journal of American Linguistics)
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, and wordes tho /That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge /Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do / Ek forto wynnen loue in ſondry ages / In ſondry londes, ſondry ben vſages […]
You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years, words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now. / As for winning love across ages and / across nations, there are lots of usages
Usage notes
The formal singular usage, following the T-V distinction, was used to address one's superiors, elders or others to whom one might wish to show politeness or respect.
1Used preconsonantally or before h. 2Early or dialectal. 3Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English. 4Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
1946, “Nuns”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, page 34:
Söl: ‚Tarnow’ äbinom konletan zilik dinas valik teföl valemapükis valasotik. Bukem valemapükik omik, kel äbinon ba gretikün un Deutän, ye pedistukon ti löliko.
Mr. Tarnow was an industrious collector of all things in the field of world languages of all kinds. His library about world languages, which was perhaps the largest in Germany, has, however, been almost completely destroyed.
1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 14:
Thou liest valse co secun that thou an ye thick,
You lie false, said the second, that you and your kid,
References
↑ 1.01.11.2Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, pages 80, 94 & 114
^ Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129