The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #28939   Message #363310
Posted By: Amos
25-Dec-00 - 10:31 PM
Thread Name: Help: With 'Thee/Thou/Thy
Subject: RE: Help: With 'Thee/Thou/Thy
The "plain speech" of the Friends has usedf 'thee' in nominative places for centuries. But it is a local variation, not the fundamental form, which is thou in the nominative and thee in the dative and accusative.

I would be tempted to use "thee" in the first line (May thee now rest...) rather than "thou" because it is a dative construction, in that the wish is being given the recipient. And it sounds better to my hear. Cf. "God rest ye merry, gentlemen".

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