SALUTATIONS 



125 



whether to the waist, as in Tahiti, or of the entire 

 clothes, as in the case of the female attendants 

 upon the king of Uganda. In Europe we only 

 uncover the head, and this in many cases is mini- 

 mised to a mere touching of the hat. In the 

 Coptic and Abyssinian churches the Semitic custom 

 of uncovering not the head but the feet is still 

 preserved. We find the same ceremonial uncover- 

 ing of the feet in ancient Peru and Mexico ; and 

 in Burma it was long a point of dispute whether 

 foreigners should comply with the native custom 

 on approaching the king. 



Again, as for the words and phrases which 

 accompany the gestures of salutation, \ve find the 

 widest variety in form and nature. The oriental 

 forms, both scriptural and modern, are full of 

 grave dignity and religious character. Mohammed 

 took advantage of this characteristic, and made 

 the use of certain forms rigorous as religious pass- 

 words ; exactly like the once common Spanish 

 form, ' Ave Maria pnrisima,' which had to be 

 answered by 'Sin pecado concebida." The Eastern 

 phrases, 'The Lord be with thee,' 'Be under the 

 guard of God,' ' Blessed be thou of the Lord,' have 

 degenerated into the Spanish ' Vaya con Dios, 

 Senor,' the French 'Adieu, "and our own 'Good- 

 bye,' abridged from 'God be with ye." The 

 Basque verb has distinct inflectional forms for 

 use in addressing a man, a woman, a superior, or 

 an equal. Our familiar abridged forms, ' Bless 

 yon,' ' Mercy me,' ' Save you, sir,' show an English 

 reticence in a light and familiar use of sacred 

 names which is not seen in the familiar French 

 '.Mini Dieu," the German ' Mein Gott' or ' Herr 

 Je. ' The citoyen and citoyenne of the French 

 revolution was but one of a hundred childish 

 attempts to obliterate the natural growth of ages, 

 and it is not a little striking that 'Merci, man- 

 rieur,' was the phrase that came to the lips of the 

 wretched Robespierre a moment before nis end. 

 The familiar sir, tiynor, seiior, mon-sieur are of 

 course ultimately referable to the Latin senior 

 expressive of the reverence due to age ; madame, 

 mademoiselle lead up to Latin dominus, ' the 

 master of a house.' The use of 'sir' may convey 

 a sense of scorn, just as the archaic sirrah always 

 implied anger or contempt. And even ' madam ' 

 and ' mUtress ' are not without an odious sense. 

 The Greek phrase, both at meeting and parting, 

 was xcupe ('be joyful'); the Romans usually said 

 ' Salve ' at the one and ' Vale ' at the other. These 

 words express wishes for cheerfulness, peace, 

 health ; specialised forms of the same are the 

 Pauline xdpc J ^f^ft ('grace and peace') and 

 the ecclesiastical ' Pax vobiscum ' and ' Benedicite." 

 Snch ceremonial forma as ' Let the king live for 

 ever,' 'Long live the king,' by their hyperbole 

 In-tray an oriental origin; 'good-day,' 'good- 

 night,' are obviously natural salutations every- 

 where, as are also the Italian ' Felicita," the 

 German 'Gesnndheit,' the Roman 'Sit fanstum 

 ix." Such phrases as 'Serene Highness,' 

 'Grace,' 'Lordship,' 'Excellency,' 'Eminence,' 

 iiarency," 'Right Honourable,' 'Most Noble," 

 'Honourable,' 'Right Reverend," 'Very Reverend," 

 'Venerable,' 'Father,' ' Reverend," like ' my learned 

 brutlier" between counsel, and ' the gallant officer' 

 of a soldier across the floor of the House of Com- 

 mons, are conventional terms that must on no 

 account be omitted, as omission could mean 

 nothing lint intentional disrespect. Quakers alone 

 powess an immunity, the ground of their objection 

 being recognised as a difficulty of conscience. A 

 p'-i-inl salutation is due, as everybody knows, to 

 any one who has just sneezed, perhaps as a tribute 

 of r-s|>ect to a sign of mortality. The English 

 'How do you do?' the French 'Comment vous 

 portez-vons?' the German ' Wie geht's ?' are mere 



forms that one uses without waiting for or thinking 

 of the answer, just as the Spanish custom of offer- 

 ing to a visitor anything lie happens to admire in 

 one's house is expected to be answered by a cere- 

 monious form of refusal. Many phrases are used 

 which may have once expressed inferiority, but are 

 now mere forms without meaning. The Chinese in 

 particular have an elaborate vocabulary of compli- 

 mentary epithets for the person addressed, and de- 

 preciatory terms for themselves. A wife calls herself 

 ' a mean concubine ; ' the speaker's opinion is ' the 

 stupid opinion,' his house ' tne tattered shed ; ' your 

 father is 'the honourable grey-beard,' 'the honour- 

 able severity ;' your mother, ' the good gentleness.' 

 Even a simple question takes a ceremonious and 

 complimentary form, as, for example, ' To what 

 sublime religion do you in your wisdom belong ? ' 



An interesting chapter in the study of salu- 

 tations is the history of the pronouns of address 

 in the modern European languages. In English 

 the use of the plural for the singular form was 

 established as early as the beginning of the 14th 

 century. In old English ye was always used as 

 a nominative, and you as a dative or accusative 

 a distinction carefully observed in the Authorised 

 Version of 1611. In Shakespeare's time, as Abbott 

 points out, thou was proper from superiors to in- 

 feriors, and as expressing companionship, affection, 

 permission, or of contempt and anger towards 

 strangers ; ye and you, again, are proper from a 

 servant to a master, and as expressing compliment, 

 submission, or entreaty. Thus, says Schmidt, the 

 constant address of Venus to Adonis is thou, of 

 Adonis to Venus you. Tarquin and Lucrece, being 

 both in a state of extreme emotion, constantly 

 address each other with thou. The swaggering 

 host in Merry Wives uses thou to everybody, as 

 long as he is in his pride, but you when lie is 

 crestfallen. In a solemn style even princes are 

 addressed with thou, whereas Falstaff uses you 

 even to Jove. But already than had fallen some- 

 what into disuse, and being archaic was naturally 

 adopted in the elevated language of poetry and 

 prayer. 



Similarly in German usage du ( ' thou ' ) is no 

 longer used in address, save in domestic or familiar 

 intercourse, or sometimes to convey the deliberate 

 familiarity of insult or contempt; ihr ('ye') in 

 modern usage is only employed in addressing more 



are now proper only from a superior to an inferior. 

 At present the pronoun of the third person plural, 

 rie ( ' they ' ), and its possessive ihr ( ' their ' ) are alone 

 allowable in the sense of 'you,' 'your,' whether in 

 addressing one person or more. When thus used 

 they are written with capital letters, and the verb 

 with Sie is always in the third person plural, whether 

 one person or more is intended, although a succeed- 

 ing adjective is singular or plural according to the 

 sense. 



In Italian the personal pronoun Tu is used only 

 in poetry, or in addressing persons of the lowest 

 rank. To inferiors or to equals it is proper to use 

 voi ; but when respect is to be implied, vossignoria, 

 or the feminine pronoun Ma, which is always 

 referred to it either expressed or understood. 



In Roumanian conversation it is usual, instead 

 of using the direct personal pronouns tu ('thou') 

 and voi ('you'), to use the compound words dum- 

 neata, dumneavostrd, derived from liomnia ta ( ' thy 

 lordship ' ), domnia vdstrO, ( ' your lordship ' ). These 

 words nave thus become personal pronouns, and 

 the latter is also used for the singular. 



In Spanish tu is used only to the nearest relatives, 

 dear friends, little children, and menials. Vos, once 

 generally used, is now confined to persons of high 



