lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) (01/23/84)
"Thee" is the objective case of "thou". "Where art thou?" is the archaic form of "Where are you?" Traditional usage among Friends is "Where is thee?", which is not grammatically correct. For another example, a Quaker might say, "Does thee like thy new car?", instead of the correct, "Dost thou like thy new car?" I think it's a lousy guess that the Quakers' use of "thee" transformed English usage. I think they were bucking a trend already under way. I think everybody got elevated upward (so to speak) to the aristocratic status requiring formal address. This was the opposite of the symbolism used by the Quakers which lowered even the King to the status of commoner. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew