Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!portc01.blue.aol.com!news-e2a.gnn.com!howland.erols.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.bctel.net!news.mag-net.com!freenet.unbc.edu!news.scn.org!scn.org!lilandbr
From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: Re: "plural" you
Message-ID: <Dz39zA.9oC@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
References: <53hgh2$37i@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> <52pmh8$t5@news.alaska.edu> <52re6q$ia3@halley.pi.net> <3251D86E.3063@csql.mv.com> <1996100222495768213@zetnet.co.uk> <petrichDyov0z.6vq@netcom.com> <01bbb356$a9674f60$40f331ca@IHUG.ihug.co.nz> <325860CF.78
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 02:09:10 GMT
Lines: 37

82@csql.mv.com> <325B70F4.54CD@tower.
Organization: Seattle Community Network

In a previous article, pruss+@pitt.edu (Alexander R Pruss) says:

>The only examples that come to mind right now are biblical.  For instance,
>it may be important for some exegetic points to note that in Deut. 6:5 "And 
>you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart..." the "you" in the 
>Hebrew is singular.  It would be hard to make this clear in modern English,
>because any attempt to make it clear (e.g., "And you yourself shall love...")
>would probably contain some strong and undue emphasis.
>
>The availability of the singular 2nd person pronoun is one reason why I like
>the King James Version of the Bible, although normally other concerns outweigh
>this and I use other versions and refer to the original, at least in the
>Old Testament, for such distinctions.  (Does anyone know any *modern* 
>translation that makes a thou/you distinction?)
>
>In ordinary discourse, when not translating, I don't think there is too much
>of a problem with lack of a singular/plural 2nd person distinction.

Recently one of the more spiritually excitable young men in my church was 
addressing the congregation, and said, "Just think of it!  You're all 
married to Christ!  Each and every one of us is individually married to 
Jesus!"  I racked and wracked and wrought my brains trying to come up 
with a scriptural source for this concept, since all the marriage imagery 
I could think of (both in Paul and in the Apocalypse) has the Church, not 
its members, in the bridal role.  Finally I decided that he was thinking 
of 2 Corinthians 11:1-2, and was either reading it in a modern 
translation or (more likely, given *him*) in the King James but in 
ignorance of the singularity of "thee".

--
Liland Brajant ROS'    		"Intla yajuanti quinitzquise cohuame o intla
P O Box 30091      		quiise se pajyo, ax quinchihuilis tleno."
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono		
Tel. (206) 633-2434  		(Aj aj aj!  Liland krokodiledas!)
