Anyone know of a site where I can learn a bit? When and where were 'thee' and 'thou' used? Country dialects? etc

I just want to throw in enough to help set the scene, and avoid battering the readers ear.

For you LHrs, this will be a takeoff from that hilarious scene with my younger son Jean Pierre, and his 4 girlfriends.

Thanks

If you're going for no earlier than 18th century England, thee and thou were on their way out. By 1800ish, the usage of either sounded quaint and old-fashioned.

But for the record, thou is the nominative (subject) pronoun. So, you would use it like, "Thou art a fool." Thee is the objective (object) pronoun. You would use it like, "I tell thee true."

*spitteth to cleareth moutheth*

He said:

quote:

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One of my favorite online sources for original texts is the Medieval Sourcebook. It is a good place to read original texts and get a feel for the language of the period.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Here's another good one:

http://members.aol.com/michellezi/resources-index.html#index

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This might not be the reference you need for this particular story, but if you're interested in Old English and medieval stuff, and if you haven't found it and read it already, a very readable, entertaining, and tremendously edifying book, with much to say about dialects, Anglo-Saxon speech, etc., is...get a load of this:

_The Life and Times of Chaucer_ by John Gardner. (Knopf; ISBN: 0-394-49317-6)

As you might know, Gardner was a medieval scholar, and one of the most knowledgable people on earth regarding Chaucer. (Gardner also wrote _Grendel_, _October Light_, etc.) The Chaucer book is a gas.

And how long since you've heard "a gas" assigned to a book? Heh. // No kidding, it's a lively, scholarly romp, nothing else quite like it.

(Oh, and I got Linux! Haven't installed it yet, but thanks for the tip.)

I LOVE Chaucer! My most favorite set of tales on earth. Too bad they weren't ever finished.