hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2024-12-03

■ #5699. 20世紀初頭には消えかかっていた royal we [register][royal_we][monarch][lmode][dutch][personal_pronoun][pronoun][register]

　Poutsma (878) に，1人称複数代名詞の特別な用法として royal_we の話題が取り上げられている．ただし，術語としては "Plural of Majesty or Plural of Dignity" が用いられている．

As in Dutch, the plural of the first person is sometimes used by sovereigns, especially in public utterances, when speaking of themselves.
About this Plural of Majesty or Plural of Dignity, as it is commonly called, Sweet (N. E. Gr., §2095) observes: "We see the beginnings of this usage in Old-English laws, where the king speaks of himself as iċ, and then goes on to say wē bebēodath .. 'we command ..', the wē being meant to include the witan or councillors." Compare also Kellner, Hist. Outl. of Eng. Synt., §276; Onions, Advanced Eng. Synt., §221.


We were not born to sue, but to command. Rich. II, ii, 1, 196.
Fair and noble hostess, | We are your guest to-night. Macb., I, 6, 24.
Should our host murder us on this spot --- us, his king and his kinsman, ...our fate will be little lightened, but, on the contrary greatly aggravatated, by your stirring, Scott, Quent. Durw., Ch. XXVII, 354.
The Queen said ...: "We are this day fortunate --- we enjoy the company of our amiable hostess at an unusual hour. Id., Abbot, Ch. XXI, 225.


Note. This practice seems to have become unusual or extinct in the personal utterances of sovereigns to their audiences, having been preserved only in public instruments.
Thus King George V in his reply to the address of the Corporation of Bombay uses I, etc.:


You have rightly said that I am no stranger among you [etc.]. Times, No. 1823, 974b.


Similarly in his Address on the occasion of the opening of the Coronation Durbar:


It is with genuine feelings of thankfulness and satisfaction that I stand here to-day among you [etc.]. Id., No. 1824, 1001d.


But in the instrument announcing the fact that the seat of the Government of India will be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi, we find we, etc.: We are pleased to announce to Our People [etc.]. Ib.

　20世紀初頭までに royal we は事実上消えていたことが確認できる．使われることがあるにせよ，公的法律文書における伝統的な用法としてであり，レジスターはきわめて限定されていたことがわかる．

　・ Poutsma, H. A Grammar of Late Modern English. Part II, The Parts of Speech, 1B. Groningen, P. Noordhoff, 1916.

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