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PRONOUNS, PERSONAL. Thee for thou; after "to be"

Thee for thou. Verbs followed by thee instead of thou have been called reflexive. But though "haste thee," and some other phrases with verbs of motion, may be thus explained, and verbs were often thus used in E. E., it is probable that "look thee," "hark thee," are to be explained by euphonic reasons. Thee, thus used, follows imperatives which, being themselves emphatic, require an unemphatic pronoun. The Elizabethans reduced thou to thee. We have gone further, and rejected it altogether. (See 205.)

“Blossom, speed thee well.
”

“Look thee here, boy.” Ib. 116.

“Run thee to the parlour.
”

“Haste thee.
”

“Stand thee by, friar.
”

“Hark thee a word.
”

“Look thee, 'tis so.
”

“Come thee on.
”

“Now, fellow, fare thee well.
”

“Hold thee, there's my purse.
”

; J. C. v. 3. 85.

“Take thee that too.
”

In the two latter instances thee is the dative.

Thee is probably the dative in

“Thinkst thee?
”

or, at all events, there is, perhaps, confusion between "Thinks it thee?" i.e. "does it (E. E.) seem to thee?" and "thinkst thou?" Very likely "thinkst" is an abbreviation of "thinks it." (See 297.) Compare the confusion in

“Where it thinkst best unto your royal selfe.
”

A Shakespearean Grammar. Edwin Abbott Abbott. London and New York. Macmillan and Company. 1870.

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