Origin & Evolution of Languages

[Anne Mahoney]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

Dennis King wrote:

> Question: what was the convention among the Greeks and Romans in this
> regard at the height of their civilizations?

In Latin tu was only singular and vos was only plural, though it was fairly
common to use nos ("we") for 1st-person singular.  Emperors did this (see
Trajan's letters in book 10 of Pliny the Younger) but so did regular people
even in the republic (e.g. Cicero).  Sometimes it's mock-formal (the letter to
Atticus in which Cicero says effectively "we have been increased by a son");
sometimes it doesn't seem to have any particular special tone.

I think su is only singular, hueis only plural in 5th-c. Attic -- one
definition of the "height of [Greek] civilization" :-) At least I am unaware of
cases where hueis is used "formally" to a single person.

--Anne Mahoney
Boston U.