epistolary

Pronounced: ih-PISS-tuh-ler-ee, adj

Notes: This word meant more than I thought it did

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Yesterday’s word

The word ye, as a definite article, means “the”. As a pronoun, it means “you”

First usage

The definite article came into English before the 1100s; the pronoun came into English before the 1200s

Background / Comments

So much to say about such a short word! First, the definite article: our word is merely the archaic spelling of “the”. We normally see our word in before “old” (or “olde”), as in “Ye Olde Bookshoppe”. Even it was “The Old Bookshop”, most people would pronounced it “thee” (instead of “thuh”) because we’ve been instructed to say “thee” before a vowel sound in the following word, and “thuh” before a consonant sound in the following word: thus, “the (thuh) key” versus “the (thee) apple”. Surprisingly, this is not an actual rule in English, though it is often taught as a rule. I’m familiar with the pronoun “ye”, so I’ve been mispronouncing the definite article for a long time. And not for the pronoun: as you may know, in older English, there were separate words for the second person pronouns – “thou, thee, & thy” were singular, and “ye, you, & your” were plural. (These days, we just use “you” and hope the meaning is clear – or we add things, like “all of you” or “y’all” [some Southern speakers claim “y’all” is singular and “all y’all” is plural]). Did you know that when the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible was being translated, “thee, thou, & thy” were already no longer in use? The translators deliberately used these words so that readers would be able to tell when a passage was addressing a single person or multiple people. There are multiple places where singular and plural forms are mixed, and it makes for better understanding to note them. One examples is John 3:7, where Jesus says Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus (thus, the “thee”), but the messages is that Nicodemus and everyone (“ye”) must be born again.