Interestingly the you / thou distinction existed because of French / Latin influence (see the T-V distinction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T–V_distinction). Thou was generally for addressing intimate / inferiors. English just drifted to using the more formal “you” across time and dropped the thou.
In French (and probably many other languages) first person plural is more polite. People in England started defaulting to “you” as it was a safer bet socially, and “thou” fell out of use.
English also used thorn (þ) before for “th” but printing presses didn’t, and substituted “y”, which I suspect contributed.
The “you” is plural btw. “You” in english was plural and “Thou” was singular. Idk why “Thou” disappeared. Just another English thing, I guess.
Well, when thou disappeared you took it’s place.
No you
Interestingly the you / thou distinction existed because of French / Latin influence (see the T-V distinction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T–V_distinction). Thou was generally for addressing intimate / inferiors. English just drifted to using the more formal “you” across time and dropped the thou.
In French (and probably many other languages) first person plural is more polite. People in England started defaulting to “you” as it was a safer bet socially, and “thou” fell out of use.
English also used thorn (þ) before for “th” but printing presses didn’t, and substituted “y”, which I suspect contributed.
Wikipedia confirms, in particular on this page on the expression ye olde.