Where does “You” come from?
You comes from Middle English you and yow, from Old English ēow, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European h₁eyHweh₂ and túh₂, meaning the second person pronoun.
You (English): Honorific alternative letter-case form of you,...
Definitions
- Honorific alternative letter-case form of you,...
Ancestry of “You”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | yow | Second-person plural object pronoun: you;... |
| 2 | Old English | ēow | Wo!, Alas!; sheep |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | iwwiz | — |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | izwiz | accusative/dative/instrumental of *jūz |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *jūz | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | túh₂ | you, thou |