du

Forms

du (personal pronoun, second person singular; genitive deiner, dative dir, accusative dich; plural ihr)^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German dū, inherited from Old High German dū, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þū, inherited from Proto-Germanic *þū.^[4][5][1] The vowel could be long or short, lengthening under stress;^[4][6] Old and Middle High German had both, and modern German has the long vowel.^[4][6] The same word is Gothic 𐌸𐌿 (þu), Old Norse þú, Old English þū, Old Frisian thū and Old Saxon thū, and today archaic English thou, Swedish du and Icelandic þú.^[4][5][7]

It continues the Indo-European pronoun of the second person, Proto-Indo-European *túh₂, also found in Avestan tū, Old Church Slavonic ты (ty), Lithuanian tù, Latin tū, Old Irish tú, Sanskrit त्वम् (tvám) and Ancient Greek σύ (sú), beside τύ (tú) in Doric.^[4][5][1] Kluge notes that the element /u/ also serves to mark contrasts, and that the stem /t/ resembles the demonstrative stem of der.^[4] Kroonen suggests that the nominative may owe its form to the plural pronoun of the second person, since Hittite points to another vowel.^[7]

The dative dir and the accusative dich were formed from other ablaut grades of the stem with suffixes, while the genitive form comes from the possessive dein.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German dū is recorded in glosses of 765 and throughout the literature.^[9] In the older Old High German texts it was the only pronoun for addressing one person, used to anyone regardless of rank, as in Germanic tradition, classical Latin and the Bible.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 9th century ihr, the plural pronoun, was taken over from the Latin vos of Carolingian usage as a respectful address to a single person;^[6] Otfrid (863–871) is the first to use it.^[6] From the 12th century into Early New High German ihr was used to people of higher rank and among equals of the upper classes, spreading later to the townspeople and the lower orders.^[6] From the 17th century the third person took over: first Er and Sie in the singular, then the plural Sie, which Paul dates to the 17th century.^[10][11] By around 1800 Adelung describes du as a mark of intimacy, of subordination or of contempt.^[3] Since the student movement of the late 1960s du has been spreading again at the expense of Sie.^[11]

The noun das Du “the familiar form of address” is recorded in 1616 in the drinking phrase auff ein du, and the verb duzen goes back to Middle High German duzen.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 765 – Old High German dū appears in glosses.^[9]
• 863–871 – Otfrid uses ihr as a respectful address to one person beside du.^[6]
• 12th century – ihr becomes the usual address to people of higher rank.^[6]
• 16th century – Duzbruder “someone one addresses as du” is recorded.^[5]
• 1616 – The noun du is recorded in a drinking toast.^[12]
• 17th century – Address in the third person (Er, Sie) spreads.^[10][11]
• Late 1960s – du spreads among students.^[11]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. you (singular, familiar), used to relatives, friends and children, to God, and to animals and things addressed as persons: Du hast gewonnen!^[2][1]
2. (generic) One, you: Bei diesem Lärm kannst du nicht arbeiten.^[2]

Word family

• duzen
• Duzbruder
• Du

Related words

• dein
• ihr
• English thou

Usage notes

Mit jemandem per du sein or auf Du und Du stehen is to be on familiar terms;^[2][12] jemandem das Du anbieten is to offer someone the familiar form.^[2][12] The proverb wie du mir, so ich dir means “I'll treat you as you treat me”.^[2] In letters the pronoun is often capitalised, Du.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
4. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 219
5. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 6, 1458
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 1463
11. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
12. ^ a b c d Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 6, 1460