borrowing pronouns

[Max W Wheeler]

On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Anthony Appleyard wrote:

>   Max W Wheeler <maxw at cogs.susx.ac.uk> wrote:-
> >... comparative linguistics. Corresponding to Sp. <usted>, Ptg has
> > <voce^>, and Catalan has <voste`>. In renaissance Spanish we have not only
> > <usted> but also <vuesarced>, <voac'e>, <vuce'>, <vuced>, <vusted>; and in
> > mod. Sp dialects (including America) <buste'>. ... perfectly well attested
> > <vuestra merced> Cat. <vostra merce`> the similarity between Mod Sp <usted>
> > and Ar <usta:d> begins to look rather less interesting.

>   (1) Ar. <usta:d> still could have played a part in it. Perhaps, once
> {usta:d> had got into Spanish, it sounded like a collapsed form of <vuestra
> merced> and coalesced with it.

But there's no evidence that <usta:d> did get into Spanish. By the 16th
century when Sp. usted arose, Spaniards were into ethnic cleansing of
Arabic speakers, not into borrowing high-status words from them.

Max