Курсовая работа: Archaisms in literature

I trow not.—Daily Telegraph.

The clerk, as I conjectured him to be from his appearance, was also commoved; for, sitting opposite to Mr. Morris, that honest gentleman's terror communicated itself to him, though he wotted not why.—Scott.

I should be right glad if the substance could be made known to clergy and ministers of all denominations.—Daily Telegraph.

So sordid are the lives of such natures, who are not only not heroic to their valets and waiting-women, but have neither valets nor waiting-women to be heroic to withal.— Dickens.

Commonly misused archaisms

You who? "Thou", "thee" and "ye"

As most people know, thou, thee and ye all mean "you". But they are not interchangeable, as they are sometimes used. They represent different uses of the pronoun "you".

Thou

"You", singular nominative. Used if the "you" addressed is the subject of the sentence. (Thou givest unto me...)

Thee

"You", singular accusative. Used if the "you" is the object of the sentence. (I give unto thee...)

Ye

"You", plural. Used when addressing a group. (All ye, hear this...)

Because, in modern English, all of those meanings are encompassed in the single word "you", they may be difficult to distinguish. It might be helpful to recall the parallels in a case-formed language such as French (e.g. "tu", "te" and "vous")

Thy place or thine?

Thy

"Your", referring to a noun beginning with a consonant. (e.g. Set me as a seal upon thy heart.)

Thine (a) "Your", used in place of "thy" with nouns that begin with a vowel. (e.g. Fetch thine arms and armour.)

(b) "Yours", "that which belongs to you". (e.g. Thou hast what is thine.)

Go hence and fetch him hither!

The hence/hither stable of words seems to cause problems, usually through people not knowing which is which.

Hence

"From here", or "from this time". (e.g. The enemy comes! We must fly swiftly hence.)

Hither

"To here". (e.g. Bring the wretch hither.)

Thence

"From there". (e.g. The mountain rumbled and fire thence issued.)

Thither

"To there". (e.g. It had been many years since he had travelled thither.)