Wherefore art Thou?

It’s the time of year with the best music—the classical, jaunty hymns of Advent/Christmas. I welcome them like old friends and belt them out. And on the first Sunday of Advent, as we began the processional, I had to endure the eye-rolling disappointment of an “updated” rendition of “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.” No “thees” or “thous” (outside the title). “You” and “your” choppily pushed in. Is it really so hard to leave the lines as we’ve sung them for generations, I thought. What’s so bad about singing “thy?”

Sure, those words aren’t used in everyday speech anymore. They’ve become “church” words, almost formalized. But it wasn’t always that way. “Thou” was originally the singular second person pronoun; “ye” was the plural second person pronoun. Around the 1300s as Middle English was shifting into Modern English, “ye/you” began to be used as a singular second person pronoun, particularly when addressing a superior. This was in part due to the French practice of addressing superiors or strangers in the plural (the royal “we’). Subsequently, “thee/thou” remained the “common” singular second person address, for friends, family, or inferiors.

Over time, “thee/thou” fell out of use as impolite. In social introductions, it was considered to err on the side of formally, so “you” became the default second person pronoun. But it persisted in familial settings, and in hymns. What I find so interesting about the formal/informal distinction with “you” and “thou” is that all those hymns addressing God use “thou.” What sounds so formal to our modern ears is in fact a familial phrase—it’s addressing God not in a formal, superior way but in an intimate, domestic way. He is our father. He is our friend. He knows us more intimately than anyone.

Singing hymns, knowing the “thous” are addresses of familiarity, makes the hymns more intimate. It’s no secret that I find most modern Christian worship songs weak or annoying. They hold no nostalgia for me, they’re repetitive and theologically susceptible, and they often just aren’t that fun to sing. I rarely enjoy a song written after 1950, and I almost never have had one help me pray. They’re distracting to my disposition. And even a familiar song that’s been “updated” with gender neutral or less “archaic” language takes me out of the prayerful singing. (I do protest by singing the “right” words of “Be Thou My Vision.”)

Language evolves, and it makes sense that in a more democratic world the distinction between formal and informal has disappeared. But I do think there is a loss when words disappear. As “you” became singular, we have started to need a distinguishing word for the plural (like “y’all”). Words convey specific meaning, even as the meanings change. “Thee/thou” may not be used outside church hymns and wedding vows, but they still have a place there—the intimate, holy second person pronoun.