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German "Ihr" Question

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Erupes
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 Message 1 of 9
18 August 2009 at 4:01am | IP Logged 
I've been reading a German fantasy novel, Märchenmond, and something has really been bothering me. "ihr" and "euch" are constantly used for second person singular among certain characters. It is supposed to take place in the Medieval time period(or some fantasy analogue), which made me think "ihr" and "euch" might have been used like this in the past. I haven't been able to find anything about it online, and I haven't gotten that far in my A Short History of the German Language book. Thanks for any help.
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Lindsay19
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 Message 2 of 9
18 August 2009 at 11:04am | IP Logged 
Erupes wrote:
I've been reading a German fantasy novel, Märchenmond, and something has really been bothering me. "ihr" and "euch" are constantly used for second person singular among certain characters. It is supposed to take place in the Medieval time period(or some fantasy analogue), which made me think "ihr" and "euch" might have been used like this in the past. I haven't been able to find anything about it online, and I haven't gotten that far in my A Short History of the German Language book. Thanks for any help.


I actually asked this same question on this forum a few months ago (I had also been reading Wolfgang Hohlbein and come across it). The answers I got were that it is something close to the English "Thou".
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Lindsay19
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 Message 3 of 9
18 August 2009 at 11:07am | IP Logged 
Here we are:

Formal "you" in German
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Pyx
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 Message 4 of 9
18 August 2009 at 2:34pm | IP Logged 
Lindsay19 wrote:

I actually asked this same question on this forum a few months ago (I had also been reading Wolfgang Hohlbein and come across it). The answers I got were that it is something close to the English "Thou".

Just chiming in to confirm that; "Ihr/Euch" is used as "Thou" in English.

Also, good choice with Hohlbein, but go for some of his less childish books (he either writes them together with his wife - then it's a children's book - or alone, and then it's good fantasy :) ). Try "Der Hexer" or the one about the Werewolves (sorry, can't remember the title) afterwards!

After you outgrow Hohlbein, go with Markus Heitz! "Die Zwerge" and if you liked that, and if you like Fantasy, his "Ulldart" books!
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Lindsay19
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 Message 5 of 9
18 August 2009 at 9:45pm | IP Logged 
Pyx wrote:
Lindsay19 wrote:

I actually asked this same question on this forum a few months ago (I had also been reading Wolfgang Hohlbein and come across it). The answers I got were that it is something close to the English "Thou".

Just chiming in to confirm that; "Ihr/Euch" is used as "Thou" in English.

Also, good choice with Hohlbein, but go for some of his less childish books (he either writes them together with his wife - then it's a children's book - or alone, and then it's good fantasy :) ). Try "Der Hexer" or the one about the Werewolves (sorry, can't remember the title) afterwards!

After you outgrow Hohlbein, go with Markus Heitz! "Die Zwerge" and if you liked that, and if you like Fantasy, his "Ulldart" books!


I started reading Hohlbein a while back, and liked that I could understand everything he wrote, but some of his and his wife's books have been sort of under my age range. I bought two of Markus Heitz's books and have started reading Die Zwerge :) I'll have to look into the others you've mentioned.
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Bao
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 Message 6 of 9
18 August 2009 at 11:18pm | IP Logged 
God, no, not the books written by Hohlbein alone. Or even worse, the ones with Frank Rehfeld as a co-author. Mediocre fantasy at its best. :(


This form is called Ihrzen, by the way.
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William Camden
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 Message 7 of 9
19 August 2009 at 9:19am | IP Logged 
18th century Germans often addressed social superiors in the third person.
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Pyx
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 Message 8 of 9
19 August 2009 at 3:30pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
God, no, not the books written by Hohlbein alone. Or even worse, the ones with Frank Rehfeld as a co-author. Mediocre fantasy at its best. :(

Shush, Bao, you have obviously no taste ;P
Seriously though, I have enjoyed Hohlbein for a very long time (until it all started to repeat itself :) ) and his books are very decent! Furthermore the language he uses is relatively simple and straightforward, which makes them good material for learning! ON TOP OF THAT THEY ARE VERY ENJOYABLE IN THEIR OWN RIGHT, MY DEAR MR. BAO! ;P

And anyway; can you really argue with someone with such a cool beard?

CAN YOU?!


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