Product Code Database
The royal we, majestic plural (), or royal plural, is the use of a plural pronoun (or corresponding plural-inflected verb forms) used by a single person who is a monarch or holds a high office to refer to themself. A more general term for the use of a we, us, or our to refer to oneself is nosism.
In this quotation, underlining has been added to the words that exemplify the use of the majestic plural.
In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking not only in their own personal capacity but also in an official capacity as leader of a nation or institution. In the grammar of several languages, plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms.
In diplomatic letters, such as letters of credence, it is customary for monarchs to use the singular first-person ( I, me, my) when writing to other monarchs, while the majestic plural is used in royal letters to a president of a republic.
In Commonwealth realms, the sovereign discharges their commissions to ranked military officers in the capacity of we. Many official documents published in the name of the monarch are also presented with royal we, such as letters patent, proclamation, etc.
Popes have historically used the we as part of their formal speech, for example as used in Notre charge apostolique, Mit brennender Sorge, and Non abbiamo bisogno. Since Pope John Paul I, however, the royal we has been dropped by popes in public speech, although formal documents may have retained it. Recent important papal documents still use the majestic plural in the original Latin but are given with the singular I in their official English translations.
In 1989, Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was met with disdain by some in the press for using the royal we when announcing to reporters that she had become a grandmother in her "We have become a grandmother" statement. The Phrase Finder. "We are a grandmother".
In Imperial China and every monarchy within its cultural sphere (including Japanese Empire, Korean Empire, Ryukyu Kingdom, and Vietnam), the majestic imperial pronoun was expressed by the character zhèn (, ). It was in fact the former Chinese first-person pronoun (that is, ). However, following his unification of China, the emperor Shi Huangdi arrogated it entirely for his personal use. Previously, in the Chinese cultural sphere, the use of the first-person pronoun in formal courtly language was already uncommon, with the nobility using the self-deprecating term guǎrén 寡人 () for self-reference, while their subjects referred to themselves as chén 臣 (, originally meaning or ), with an indirect deferential reference like zúxià 足下 (), or by employing a deferential epithet (such as the adjective yú (愚), ). While this practice did not affect non-Chinese countries as much since their variants of zhèn (朕) and other terms were generally loanwords, the polite avoidance of pronouns nevertheless spread throughout East Asia. This still persists, except in China, where, following the May Fourth Movement and the Communist Party victory in the Chinese Civil War, the use of the first-person pronoun 我 wǒ, which dates to Shang dynasty oracle inscriptions as a plural possessive pronoun, is common.
In Hindustani and other Indo-Aryan languages, the majestic plural is a common way for elders and those of higher social rank to refer to themselves. In certain communities, the first-person singular () may be dispensed with altogether for self-reference and the plural nosism used uniformly.
In Islam, several plural word forms are used to refer to Allah.
In Malaysia, before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong takes office, he will first swear an oath where he refers to himself with the Malay language first person plural kami (“we”). This is because His Majesty represents the other Malay Rulers during his reign as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
In Indonesia, the royal we was historically used in the Preamble of early legislative documents, such as Government Regulation No. 1/1945 and Law No. 1/1945. This was abandoned in 1946 since the issuance of Government Regulation No. 1/1946 and Law No. 1/1946.
|
|
