From: Christophe Grandsire (christophe.grandsire@free.fr)
Date: Fri Jun 06 2003 - 18:34:14 EST
En r�ponse � Anton Sherwood :
>Let's not forget German `Sie' and Italian `Lei', both literally `She',
>presumably also meaning Your Abstraction (a feminine noun).
>
>French is locally odd in lacking such a form.
Well, all the Iberian forms show that originally it was the 2nd person
plural that marked politeness (Usted comes from "*vuestra* merced", not
*"su merced"). French just stayed to that (the 3rd person was only ever
used to talk to the King - or the Emperor when we had one :) -).
Christophe Grandsire.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang.
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