“Thee” and “thou” in “The Lord of the Rings”

[morwen edhelwen]

Bit of thread drift; but, Estelyn, are you German by citizenship/nationality, or do you just live in Germany? As for the "thee" and 'thou", I always thought it was meant to signify, as you said:
1.authority(familiarity, I especially remember Shakespeare's use of it in Romeo and Juliet, from studying it in English class and other plays, as part of insults and in conversations between masters and servants. I think the idea here (but I am not an expert, just what I think) is, or was, that if "you in general" are in authority over another person, you can be 'familiar" in a way to them, as in the days when thou and thee were in common use, social circles were tight and the rich were (just assuming) more secure in the thought that their servants wouldn't reveal any of the masters' secrets.

People (in general) love to talk about others, especially if those others are seen as "better" in some way.

2. familiarity, between close friends and family members. I think Tolkien is using both senses(i haven't looked at the book in a long time as I don't know where my family's copy went)

[Elmo]

Andreth says to Finrod in the Athrabeth: "But say not thou to me, for so he once did!" Which implies she is not comfortable with the reminder of the closeness that she had to Aegnor which Finrod reminds her of, ( or she thought Finrod was patronising her!)

By the way, what a great piece of writing the Athrabeth is!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Morwen, I'm of German background, though not born in Germany nor a citizen, but I live here permanently. It's complicated...

Yes, you basically have the two main usages of "thee" and "thou", perhaps with the addition of the religious usage, which we find in passages of Tolkien's work as well.

Elmo, that's a great find! I haven't read the Athrabeth in quite a while, so I didn't remember that.