(used to denote oneself and another or others): We have two children. In this block we all own our own houses.
(used to denote people in general): the marvels of science that we take for granted.
(used to indicate a particular profession, nationality, political party, etc., that includes the speaker or writer): We in the medical profession have moral responsibilities.
Also called the royal we.(used by a sovereign, or by other high officials and dignitaries, in place of I in formal speech): We do not wear this crown without humility.
Also called the editorial we.(used by editors, writers, etc., to avoid the too personal or specific I or to represent a collective viewpoint): As for this column, we will have nothing to do with shady politicians.
you (used familiarly, often with mild condescension or sarcasm, as in addressing a child, a patient, etc.): We know that's naughty, don't we? It's time we took our medicine.
(used in the predicate following a copulative verb): It is we who should thank you.
(used in apposition with a noun, especially for emphasis): We Americans are a sturdy lot.
Origin of we
before 900;Middle English,Old Englishwē; cognate with Dutchwij,Germanwir,Old Norsevēr,Gothicweis
I
[ahy]
pronoun,nominativeI,possessivemy or mine,objectiveme;plural nominativewe,possessiveour or ours,objectiveus.
the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
noun,pluralI's.
(used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular).
Metaphysics. the ego.
Origin of I
before 900;Middle Englishik, ich, i;Old Englishic, ih; cognate with Germanich,Old Norseek,Latinego,Greekegṓ, OCS azŭ,Lithuanianaš,Sanskritahám
c.1300, a double possessive (with genitive suffix -s (1)), originating in northern England, and has taken over the absolute function of our (q.v.). In Middle English ourn, ouren also were used.
I
pron.
12c. shortening of Old English ic, first person singular nominative pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *ekan (cf. Old Frisian ik, Old Norse ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, Old High German ih, German ich, Gothic ik), from PIE *eg-, nominative form of the first person singular pronoun (cf. Sanskrit aham, Hittite uk, Latin ego (source of French Je), Greek ego, Russian ja, Lithuanian aš). Reduced to i by mid-12c. in northern England, it began to be capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.
The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]
The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. Latin manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts.
we
pron.
Old English we, from Proto-Germanic *wiz (cf. Old Saxon wi, Old Norse ver, Danish vi, Old Frisian wi, Dutch wij, Old High German and German wir, Gothic weis "we"), from PIE *wei- (cf. Sanskrit vayam, Old Persian vayam, Hittite wesh "we," Old Church Slavonic ve "we two," Lithuanian vedu "we two").
The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as "Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from Old English; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such since at least 1853 (cf. also wegotism).
