Pluralis majestatis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-
For the NYC sketch comedy group of the same name, see The Royal We (comedy).
Pluralis majestatis ("majestic plural") is the plural pronoun where it is used to refer to one person alone. This is also known as the "royal "we"" or the "Victorian "we"" because it has usually been restricted to august personages such as monarchs, bishops, popes, and university rectors. The idea behind the pluralis majestatis is that a monarch or other high official always speaks for his or her people. For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of Oman opens thus:
- On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman… [1]
Famous examples of purported instances:
- We are not amused. — Queen Victoria (in at least one account of this quotation, though, she was not speaking for herself alone, but for the ladies of the court.)
- We are a grandmother. — Margaret Thatcher announcing the birth of Mark Thatcher's son Michael in 1990.
- The abdication statement of Nicholas II of Russia uses the pluralis majestatis liberally.
Another view of the form is that it reflects the fact that when a monarch speaks he or she speak both in their own name and in the name of their function, office or status.
It is to be distinguished from pluralis modestiae, also pluralis auctoris (inclusion of readers or listeners). For instance:
- Let us calculate! — Leibniz
- We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics. — Albert Einstein
It was said that United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover told a subordinate who used the royal we: "Three groups are permitted that usage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?"; similarly, Mark Twain extended this privilege to "people with tapeworms".
In the TV series Gargoyles, Oberon uses the pluralis majestatis off and on for himself (as lord of the Third Race).
[edit] See also
- We
- T-V distinction
- Elohim, a plural name of the Hebrew deity Yahweh.
