Re: Fr/lat/ru tu-vous/tu-vos/ты-вы: etymology ?

"Franz Gnaedinger" <frgn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Can anyone explain the double form I and me, je et moi?
did anyone ever wonder?

The best suggestion I've seen is as a form of politeness. Excessive use of 'I' is rude, and so the old independent nominative (**mu) was replaced by a new construction. Politeness has caused suppletion in most of the Portuguese second person pronouns.

Richard.

.

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