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The Origins of Modern German Polite Sie-Plural with Particular Reference to the Works of Christian Weise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

George J. Metcalf
George J. Metcalf*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
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Extract

It is only within the last few decades that scholars have been inclined to agree with Andreas Schmeller's statement regarding the origin of the polite Sie-plural forms in modern German: “Den schon ums Jahr 1683 vorkommenden Höflichkeits-Plural Sie haben wir Deutsche vermuthlich dem ellipsierten Plural Euer Gnaden zu verdanken.”

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , December 1937 , pp. 1204 - 1213
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1937

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References

1 Bayerisches Wörterbuch (Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1828), ii, 679.—As early as 1820, this same explanation for the origin of Sie-plural had been advanced by Boileau in his Nature and Genius of the German Language (London), although Boileau had brought together no evidence to support Ms theory and was not accurate in his interpretation of the meaning of Gnade: “It appears to me that the third person plural, in the polite intercourse of the Germans, has exactly the same origin as the third person singular of the Italians and Spaniards. Instead of Vossignoria, or Vuestra merced, the Germans, in their intercourse with their Nobles, wished to show a grateful sense of favours received at their hands. They therefore frequently mentioned Euer Gnaden, your Favours, your Graces. Gnade in German is a favour conferred by a superior upon an inferior. Your Grace, in the singular would have supposed the receipt of but one favour. The acknowledgment of many favours being more complimentary, it became in time a necessary ingredient of the language of ceremony, and the verb which was to agree with Euer Gnaden, must of course have been employed in the third person plural” (p. 73).

2 Deutsche Grammatik (Göttingen, 1837), iv, 309.

3 Ibid.

4 Dr. J. C. A. Heyse, Ausführliches Lehrbuch der deutschen Sprache, 5th ed., neu bearbeitet von Dr. K. W. L. Heyse (Hannover, 1838), i, 521 f.

5 Neuhochdeutsche Grammatik, 3d ed. (Karlsruhe, 1896), ii, 254 f.

6 Grundzüge der Deutschen Syntax (Stuttgart, 1898), ii, 36.

7 2d ed. (Stuttgart, 1901), ii, 236.

8 Deutsches Wörterbuch (Leipzig, 1905), x, i, 769 f.

9 Deutsche Grammatik (Halle a.S., 1919), iii, 231.

10 Grammar of the German Language (New York, 1922), p. 178.

11 Deutsche Syntax (Heidelberg, 1923), i, 325.

12 Von Verfertigung der Komödien und ihren Nutzen (1708). Reprint: “Deutsche Literatur, Reihe Aufklärung,” i (Wien, Weimar und Leipzig, 1928), 131.

13 Ibid., p. 128.

14 Die Triumphirende Keuschheit, printed with: Der grünenden Jugend überflüssige Gedanken, Abdruck der Ausgabe von 1678, “Neudrucke,” ccxlii-ccxlv (Halle a.S., 1914).—First edition, 1668.

Bäurischer Machiavellus. Reprint: Fulda, Gegner der zweiten Schlesischen Schule ii, “Deutsche Nat.-Literatur,” xxxix (Berlin und Stuttgart, 1884), 3 ff.—Dramatized 1679; first published 1681.

Von Tobias und der Schwalbe, Aufgeführt im Jahre 1682, “Bibliothek deutscher Curiosa,” v (Berlin, 1882).

Masaniello, “Neudrucke,” ccxvi-ccxviii (Halle a.S., 1907).—Presented in 1682.

Christian Weises Dramen Regnerus (1684) und Ulvilda (1685), “Germanistische Abhandlungen” (Breslau, 1914).

Ein wunderliches Schauspiel vom Niederländischen Bauer welchem der berühmte Printz Philippus Bonus zu einem galanten Traume geholffen hat (1685). Reprint: “Deutsche Literatur, Reihe Barock: Barockdrama,” iv (Leipzig, 1931).

Die unvergnügte Seele (1688). Vom verfolgten Lateiner, Lustpiel aus dem Jahre 1696. Reprint: “Deutsche Literatur, Reihe Aufklärung,” i (Wien, Weimar und Leipzig, 1928).

Komödie von der bösen Catharina, “Deutsche Nat.-Lit.,” xxxix.—Fulda (ibid., p. lxxii) sets the date for composition between 1689 and 1702; Flemming (“Dt. Literatur, Reihe Barock: Barockdrama,” iv, 51) suggests 1693.

15 “Duzen und Ihrzen im Mittelalter,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung, v, 196 ff.

16 Denkwürdigkeiten (Breslau, 1878), edited by Hermann Oesterley.—Between pages 500 and 550, there are twenty instances of a plural verb and only one instance of a singular verb following an abstraction or its pronominal continuation.

17 Schauspiele, herausgegeben von Dr. Wilhelm Holland, “Stuttgarter Litt. Ver.,” xxxvi (1855), 380.

18 In passing, reference might be made to the form Ihr Majestät in direct address, which differs from the traditional Eure Majestät. As early as the sixteenth century (for instance, in the Faustbuch) we find that the tendency to eliminate all reference to the second person in abstract usage had extended even to the possessive pronoun preceding the abstraction. In the spoken language and in those writings which reflected spoken usage, the possessive of the third person plural and even of the demonstrative (dero) increased in popularity during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. All official communications and letters, however, clung persistently to the possessive Euer- and gave no evidence of the popularity of Ihr- in the spoken language.

19 Talanders neuerläulerte Teutsche Rede-Kunst und Briefverfassung (Leipzig, 1700), p. 350.

20 “Deutsche Nat.-Literatur,” xl (Berlin und Stuttgart, 1884), 113.

21 “Deutsche Nat.-Literatur,” xxxvii (Berlin und Stuttgart, 1883), 32.

21a Further instances of this transitional type are to be found in the citations from Herzog Anton Ulrich of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel given by L. Cholevius, Die bedeutendsten deutschen Romane des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1866), p. 292 f. Address to persons of royal rank is cited both from Die durchleuchtige Syrerinn Aramena (1669–1673) and Octavia, Römische Geschichte (1685–1707).

22 E.g., “Ihr Gnaden/ einen schönen glückseeligen guten Morgen/ ich hoffe/ Sie werden wohl geruhet haben” (p. 224).

23 E.g., “Sie sind in ihrem Bette/ da sie viel Jahre nach einander drinne geschlaffen haben” (p. 225).

24 Grammatik, iv, 309.

25 Reuter, Werke, herausgegeben von Georg Witkowski (Leipzig, 1916), i, 69.

26 Teutsche Rede-Kunst, p. 1060.

27 Edward is from “Plissine”—Leipzig, Cleander from Marburg.

28 Werke, i, 105.

29 Teutscke Rede-Kunst, pp. 320 f.

30 Ibid., p. 155.

31 Ibid., p. 189.

32 Ibid., p. 209.